


Yosuke's Facet

by CherryX2



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Complicated Relationships, F/M, Fluff, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27610388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherryX2/pseuds/CherryX2
Summary: Yosuke Hanamura is just a lovable goof, right? Everyone in the city adored Mr. Easygoing himself! Unfortunately, he gets news of a transfer from his father, and now he has to pack his bags and move all the way to Yasoinaba.A retelling of the events of Persona 4, he must navigate through a mystery in a town that hates him, and survive the wrath of a carnivore in the process.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Satonaka Chie
Comments: 26
Kudos: 37





	1. New Roads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new beginning, set farther back than what one may be used to. Before the Wild Card, there was the Magician.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop, my first fanfic.
> 
> Even though I started with Persona 5, something in particular inspired me to write for Persona 4, and that was these two main characters. I'd always been interested in their dynamic, so how about I write about just that? No guarantees this will carry out to completion, if I'm being honest. I have an original story I'm writing too, so I guess this works as practice? I can definitely say I'll have the first three chapters down, which gives the general idea of the fanfic.
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy the tale of a teenager who gets stuck in trash cans.

**_10/10/2010_ **

Hearing a jingle play and the PA come on in a deadpan tone announcing that Yasoinaba—often shortened to just Inaba—was arriving shortly, Yosuke only sighed, sliding his headphones back to their resting spot; just around the neck. _So, this is where we're going to stay,_ he dreadfully thought.

He still distinctly remembers the day he got the news about their transfer. Needless to say, the brunette wasn't happy.

* * *

**_10/7/2010_ **

_"What?! B-but Tokyo's just fine for us! There's so many more opportunities here, right?" he tried to reason._

_Yosuke swore he saw his dad wince for a split second before responding. "I... get your concern, but Junes offered me a manager position at Inaba, so that's where we have to go if I want to better support us," the father replied._

_As badly as he wanted to retort to it, Yosuke at least understood what dad did for the small family._

_"...What about mom?" he strained to say at last._

_"She understands as well, and may move in with us in the coming years. Your mother just... has a lot of business out there, right now."_

_The city teen could only grimly nod as he ended up unconsciously grasping his headphones._

_"Well, uh, how many days do I have left?" Yosuke needed some time to at least say goodbye to the friends that were made through the years._

_"We leave for Inaba on the 10th of this month."_

_Tomorrow's the 7th of October, so three days._

_"...I'm gonna go to bed now."_

_Guess I gotta get all the ‘goods’ back before I depart, he crudely thought--_

* * *

He realized that the last detail wasn't... _entirely_ necessary, but the point still stood. This wasn't a good situation for him.

"C'mon, we get off here, Yosuke!"

Taken out of the memory, he stood up from the seat and walked along the bumpy train, stepping out of it and onto his first step in the town.

Immediately, the alarms blared in his head.

_Small. Rural. Town._

Yosuke was so wrapped up in saying farewell to his old friends, he'd forgotten to research what Inaba was like.

 _Damn, I didn't expect it to be_ that _much of a downgrade,_ he pondered. Inaba looked to be downright creepy with how quiet it was. The only person around was an old woman walking to some stores, and he wanted to bolt. _Is this what culture shock feels like?_

Turning his head to see his dad, Yosuke had to ask him:

"Why the hell did you not say anything about where we were living?!"

"Hey- Language, Yosuke. But I thought you would've looked it up yourself?"

He was ready to defend himself, but his instincts just gave the honest answer. "I forgot to..."

He soon chuckled at his expense. "Quite typical, really! Clearing himself, he spoke again. "Here, let me show you where we'll be working now."

"Wait, _we?"_

"No way as the manager of _Junes_ am I letting you slack off that easily," he flatly told his son.

 _Great. Well, it's at least something to do in this damn town._ They walked along the road for a while after that, spotting some neighborhoods. He saw at least a couple more people walking around, but _damn,_ the place still looked totally empty to him.

The silence was killing him at this point. "Alright, alright, I am getting paid for this as well, right?" he tried to joke.

"Of course you will, I'm not cruel," he immediately shut Yosuke down.

 _...Ugh, That was barely a joke,_ he mentally lamented. _Must be the town stealing my amazing sense of humor away._

"Oh, there it is," he pointed.

The Junes Department Store.

His dad had worked for them as an employee in their Tokyo branch, but for his good work, he ended up promoted out to the middle of Inaba. He soon noticed a lot of people near Junes, awaiting the store to open with its new manager. The brunette never did understand that; people waiting in packs for a store to hype its grand opening. _Use that wasted time for more_ interesting _things, damn it!_

As they walked closer, Yosuke could barely catch someone in the corner far away from the crowd, trying to pry at a red-coated girl who looked about his age. 

He split up from his father, him telling the teen with headphones that he was going to open up the store, to check out whatever seemed to be going on.

“C’mon, I just wanna take you for a ride,” the shady man said.

“I’m-I’m really busy, so if you would kindly back off...” She tried to move out of the way, but the adult kept blocking her way.

“I will make... an _offer,_ you can’t refuse!”

Right before Yosuke could open his mouth, he spotted another girl sprinting across the vicinity, and with some strange war cry, she kicked the man in an _incredibly_ sensitive area.

“Back away from Yukiko!” she roared out. Yosuke briefly felt terrible for him, before recalling he did try to sexually assault her. He started into a run to help out himself.

"AGH, piece of shit!" The shady man was getting seething mad. That wasn't good.

"Hey, what's going on?!" Finally reaching them, Yosuke butted in with the meanest voice he could possibly muster.

"H-huh? Damn brats..." He ran off with more than his pride damaged as he said that, leaving them alone.

Apparently, no one else somehow saw a thing. _What is up with these people?_

The one wearing the green jacket spoke up first. "Whoa, um, thanks for the save."

_Shit. Girls. Uh..._

Of course, his crude side kicked in, staring at the girls. The girl in the red sweater had her long black hair straightened out with a headband, and his thoughts lingered on her curves. The assaulting girl had light brown hair cut into a bowl, and though she seemed a bit more average, her legs looked like they could _kill... Hey, wait, was her hair dyed--_

“Hey, are you gonna keep staring, you _perv?!”_

Yosuke didn’t realize he was staring for too long until Ms. Deadly Legs called him out.

"Wha-- No, I just zoned out!" he quickly defended. She looked like she was ready to pull the same move she did on the shady man before he quickly added “It was no problem, though.”

She bit her lip for the time being, but she still made an effort to send death glares at him. "Could you be the son of the new manager running Junes?" the girl named Yukiko asked.

"Huh- Y-yep, that's me. They should have Junes opening right about now, actually.”

He was surprised she figured him out so quickly, but he figured it made explaining himself easier. _Hey, maybe these girls won’t be so bad._

“Oh, really? Shall we go then, Chie?” Yukiko asked her friend.

“Yeah! Let’s see if they have beef steak!”

Steak? Yosuke certainly wouldn’t have thought to peg her with that kind of food, but in hindsight... _Yeah._

“I won't get the steak. I'd get overweight...” Yukiko made sure to inform Chie.

"Aw come on, meat's good for you!... I think," she replied.

_Well, I got nothing else to do, so..._

"Hey, mind if I, uh, join you?" Yosuke interjected. "I just first entered this town a couple hours ago and--"

"Oh, really? A newbie?" the green-jacket girl cut in. "C'mon Yukiko, let's show him the ropes!"

"But shouldn't we check Junes?" she inquired.

"Nah, we can get food from the Shopping District." Having a sudden grip on Yosuke's wrist, Chie started dragging him away from the bustling store. "We'll show you around... though there isn't much to show!" She gave a halfhearted laugh afterwards, which came out as a warning to him.

"Oh, _brother._ Well, let go of my wrist, and I'll follow." Yosuke demanded.

"Hmm," she briefly thought before quickly deciding "No! Now come on, there's this place with these _great_ beef bowls..."

The girl in red was already sighing as her carnivore friend dragged off the poor teen... Actually, what _was_ his name?

Eventually catching up with them on the road towards the Shopping District, she asked this exact question.

"What's, um, what's your name, by the way?"

"Oh, I'm Yosuke Hanamura!" he said with a carefree grin. "What, just _dying_ to get to know me?"

"Jeez, are you gonna keep acting like a womanizer or what?" Chie butted in, annoyed. "You know that's never a proper way to, ugh, _'get girls quick',_ right?"

Deep within himself, Yosuke had to admit that in reality he did know better, but to him it was the only persona he could adopt that gave him a sense of confidence.

"W-what's wrong with... Uh, I mean, what school do you girls go to?"

"Oh, we go to Yasogami High," Yukiko told him. "We're first-years there, though Chie has been struggling a bit."

"Hey, don't tell a stranger that! You're really gonna make me look awful here--"

Chie immediately turned her head towards Yosuke, dreading that he was gonna turn it into some dirty assumption.

"Eh, I can... relate with that, to be honest," Yosuke admitted. "My grades back in the city were barely average."

 _Oh. Uh, huh._ Now Chie didn't know what to think of him. He flips between personalities so much she couldn't keep up. Just who _is_ he?

That, of course, is what she's now here to pester him about. Time to learn about the city!

"Ooh, transferring from the big city, huh?" Chie started. "C'mon, we'll walk to the floodplain while you explain everything about what it's like!"

Yukiko tried to stop her so she didn't make him uncomfortable. "Chie, you really don't have to be nosy about it..."

"Oh, no, it's fine. You better _actually_ tell me about what Inaba's like, by the way."

"Just know that Aiya-san over there has the _best_ beef bowls! They even have a massive challenge you can take on. What was it called again, um, Rainy Day Mega Bowl... something?"

"The Rainy Day Special Mega Beef Bowl Challenge," Yukiko reminded her. "And I only know that because of how many times Chie's tried it."

" _Hey!_ "

* * *

Strolling along the Samegawa on a late Sunday afternoon wasn't how he was expecting the day to go, but Yosuke certainly didn't mind. The sunlight reflecting on the riverbed did look _really_ nice, to be honest. Tomorrow would be school, and going to another school after only spending a pitiful six months in his previous high school didn't speak well to him. He wondered what it would be like, before his thoughts lingered back on the two girls walking with him, one of them idly talking about this town of theirs. Maybe he should specifically request to enroll in Yasogami too. Who knows, he could get _really_ lucky and get in class with those two.

"...Oh, see, cause Yukiko's family runs the Amagi Inn."

He was snapped straight out of his head as he paid full attention again. _The Amagi Inn?_

"Oh, really? I-I think I've heard of that place," he said, trying to sound like he's been paying attention.

"I'd say the inn's what keeps Inaba going. We get a lot of people coming for their hot springs," Chie remarked.

"Well, I'm sure we have other things, too..." Yukiko almost bore _some_ kind of expression before returning to a neutral face."

"Hey though, you said you came from Tokyo, right? You've been there your whole life or something?"

"Um," Yosuke thought for a moment before answering, "No? I think I moved from the place I was born to there when I was pretty young."

"It must be tough to adjust to this place now," the black-haired girl empathized.

"It'll be fine," he quickly said.

The talk turned into an awkward silence after that, where it went into a cycle of one trying to start a topic, but the other not knowing how to respond.

"Um," Chie tried once more, "Hanamura-san, what was your b--"

She was shut up by the beeping of Yosuke's phone.

"Oh, that should be dad. Hold on."

It was a text message, he found.

**[Yosuke, where are you?]**

_Oh, sheesh, that's right. I haven't even seen our house yet._

**[im @ samegawa floodplain. lemme kno were our hous is, ill b there s00n]**

He typed it out and sent it to his dad, and in response he got the address.

The only problem was that he didn't know where the address was.

"Hey, Chie, do you know where this is?" he said, showing her the address name.

"Oh, that's over at my neighborhood! You need to be there now?"

"Yeah, my dad needs me. I'll see you...?"

"Chie Satonaka, and she's Yukiko Amagi," she proclaimed, a hint of pride in her voice.

"I do hope Chie won't be a handful for you, Hanamura-kun," Yukiko apologetically offered to him.

 _"Hey!"_ the girl in green complained. "Jeez, um, you keep making me sound terrible, heheh..."

Noticing the slightly somber tone from her, the boy offered to lighten up. "No worries, I'll be fine. Oh, by the way, Yosuke-kun's fine with me."

Chie just grumbled a moment more before saying "C'mon now, lemme lead the way!" With that, the brunette started running, forcing the near orange-haired teen to keep up with her.

Yukiko started on the walk back to the inn, watching the sun start to set.

 _I do wonder how those two will fare on their own,_ she simply thought to herself.

* * *

The night rose without much trouble as the teen took off his headphones. Having been directed by the spunky girl to his residence, Yosuke was treated to a small tour around the average house before going to his room and plopping on his bed.

 _So, this is seriously,_ _for_ real _where we're staying now, huh. No joke or anything... Damn._

Yosuke thought about the small size, the lack of activities, their big selling point being that... inn, absolutely nothing about this rural town could compare to big ol' Tokyo.

And if that wasn't enough, during their walk he'd heard more than a few comments about Junes, constantly pointing to it as the downfall of that shopping district he was at. Maybe they'd start pointing towards him...

He shuddered those horrible thoughts away when he recalled that he made some friends too, so he should be nice around them. For all he knows, they could be the _only_ friends he makes here.

That thought just got him to cover himself in his blanket.

_This town's gonna suck._

* * *

**_10/11/2010_ **

As he walked the Samegawa road once more, finding it to be the best way of getting to his new school, Yosuke thought about what it'll be like.

Will it be something tiny? Probably, knowing this town.

How about teachers? His old teachers _were_ a weird bunch, but they could be worse here.

Classmates? All he hopes for is just _a_ friend. Preferably one who can actually sympathize with his view of this town. 

_Pfft, like_ that's _gonna happen._

Catching sight of a student panickedly running, he decides he shouldn't be late either.

Picking up a pace, he eventually goes up to the big gate.

Yasogami High School.

Inside the Classroom Building, Yosuke heads to the faculty office to get his class, gets lectured the hell out by one Mr. Morooka, and goes to his class for the remainder of the first year, Class 1-3.

His foot set into the room, the transfer student shifts his head left and right, looking at his new classmates. A lot of them wear their uniforms quite normally... _Wait, did I mention this outfit sucks?_ However, two people in particular stood out. Two girls, one wearing a red sweater over their outfit, and the other just wearing a green jacket over the entire thing.

_Chie-san and Yukiko-san._

Those two just _had_ to be the only ones to stand out in the blank canvas of a school. _Although,_ _I guess it does make my life easier here. Who am I to complain?_

He made a small wave towards them, but they appeared to be engrossed in their conversation, sitting side by side. He instead opted to 'accidentally' listen in.

"News about a transfer student just kicked out," Chie whispered, near giddy to her friend.

"It must be Hanamura-kun, then. He did say he arrived just that day."

_Perfect time to cut in before class starts._

"Wonder how bad he's gonna be here," the short-haired teen giggled.

_Wha- Hey!_

"...How are _your_ grades coming along, by the way?" Yukiko asked, an obvious knowing tone seeping in her voice.

Her friend immediately pouted at her. "Oh, not fair!"

"Hey, girls."

The both of them directed their eyes towards the voice, revealing the Hanamura fellow they met yesterday.

Chie started first. "Oh--"

"Class is starting! _Sit down!"_ An older woman's voice boomed, panicking Yosuke back to the front of the classroom.

 _"Talktoyoulaterseeya!"_ he clustered up into a single word as he ran back.

Once everyone sat down, the teacher spoke.

"Now, I'm not sure what was going on in such short notice, but we have a new transfer from the city. Introduce yourself now, and let's get on with it."

“Sheesh, um, I'm Yosuke Hanamura. I'm the son of the new Junes manager, but don't get all close with me just for a discount, alright?”

That earned a couple chuckles, but at what cost?

"Great, a real class clown, huh? Maybe if you kept your stupid business elsewhere you would've held that in a better--"

"Excuse me?"

Chie spoke up, saving Yosuke from a mouthful.

"Hm, Chie-san?"

"Is it alright if he sits behind me?"

Peering at the vacant chair and desk behind her, the teacher sighs before answering "Of course. Hanamura-san, your seats just behind Chie-san. The one in that green jacket?"

"Got it."

* * *

Several hours of lecturing and a whole subject he was thrust in the _middle_ of had passed.

This teacher, apparently named Kiyabu Chiko, is as plain as the town they're all stuck in. He decides he'll zone out most of what she says and pray to pass the exams anyway.

Problem is, he'd need someone willing to help him.

And as a fresh transfer student--

"So you did end up here in Yasogami, after all," he hears a quiet voice speak to him.

Still slumped over on his desk, he raises his head from the desk to find that class has already dismissed for the day.

"Uh... hey." That certainly wasn't groggy _at all._

"Jeez, did you sleep through class on your first day?"

_Oh. Right._

_The girls ripped straight out of Christmas._

"Of course I did, it just bored me out," Yosuke said at Chie.

"You should still put in some effort so you'll pass the exams," Yukiko advised.

"I'm gonna have to work at Junes as well, I can't balance those two!"

"Yukiko already has to work at her family's inn a _lot_ and still has better... better grades than me. Y-your point?" _She must've quieted down at the end in shame,_ he figured. It's hard to admit stuff like that.

"Really? So Yukiko-san here's a smart kinda girl... Not bad at all. I should ask her for private lessons, then, I dunno."

The black-haired girl simply gave a deadly gaze at him, causing him to raise up his arms in defense.

"Hey, w-what's that look for?"

 _"Private lessons_ , Hanamura-kun?" the tomboy said for Yukiko. _"Really?"_

"...What, bad choice of words?"

* * *

The first thing Yosuke thought of to apologize was head to Junes and let them order whatever they wanted. Yukiko actually opted not to order, out of incredible concern for her weight. She made sure they knew it. Chie, however, was very insistent on continuing to order.

Even though she's not who he had in mind with the 'Free Junes Meal Apology', he figured it wouldn't hurt much. He did want to keep on everyone's good side, _especially_ Chie's.

He mainly knew his way around Junes from the Tokyo branch, and rising to become a chain brand, the overall layout hadn't changed much from the previous store he'd visit.

The carnivore was occupied listing one particular grievance. "Damn it, why don't they serve anything real _meaty_ here in the food court?"

"Ugh, keep complaining and I won't pay for you!"

That startled her a bit. "W-whoa, sorry," she mumbled before tacking on "but you should totally suggest it, y'know?"

He didn't necessarily mean to say that as aggressively as he did, but a point was still standing. "Um, we've only known each other for, what, about a day now? I'm not just gonna send a comment from at _best_ an acquaintance."

Chie just muttered incoherently before sighing, drooping her head down. _Hmph, why's_ he _gotta be so rude..._

 _Wait, this wasn't at all what I thought he was like, what the hell?_ _Where's the carefree pervy kid?_

As she was running through some of these thoughts, she slowly raised her head back up to put less strain on her neck, when she noticed the headphone-wearing teen calling to her.

"Hello, do you want anything?"

"Oops," she simply uttered, "I was, um, thinking about stuff."

"Great, but some pervy men could jump at you off-guard," he snickered.

Before she could think of _several_ arguments against that, Yukiko finally spoke up again. "I think you would just help us again if that happened, Yosuke-kun."

"Of course I would," he said in an almost grandiose voice. "I always gotta help damsels in distress, right? I won't let stinky men near any of 'em!"

"Including you, Yosuke-kun?"

"Oh, what the hell, Chie-san?!"

 _Just_ before an argument started, though, a young worker appeared on the scene, walking by them.

"Hello. You're from Yasogami High too, right?"

Everyone turned over to see the intruding voice, and were greeted with a young woman around their age, if not slightly older. Her hair was a very light brown, wavy, and shoulder length. She appeared to be wearing the Junes apron as well.

Yosuke was astounded by her, if he had to be honest. _She, uh, looks pretty._

"Yes, we are. You are too, I assume?" Yukiko already seemed smart but he _really_ had to thank her for the save.

"Mhm. I'm a second-year there..." Turning over to the orange-haired boy, her eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Are you the son of the new Junes manager?"

Clearing his throat, he made himself sound _manlier_ , however that worked. "U-uh, yep. I'm Yosuke Hanamura." He sincerely hoped that sounded cool enough.

"Welcome, then. I'm Saki Konishi."

_Oh man, oh man. She's actually, uh, really nice, too._

He was internally panicking with these feelings in his stomach when a girl with bowl-cut hair spoke up.

"Y'know, I'm not even that hungry anymore. You can pay me back later, Yosuke-kun."

"Oh. See you." Yosuke thought the sudden exit a bit strange, but he ultimately didn't pay much mind to it. That's money he doesn't have to pay right now, so he took it as a victory.

"I'll join her," Yukiko said. "My food's just about ready, and..." Drifting off as she finished, Yosuke figured out what he thought she was implying and waved her off, leaving only Saki.

"So those were your friends?" she began.

"Y-yeah. I just moved out here actually two days ago. I'm supposed to just be here to learn the layout before I start working." At least explaining could help start an actual conversation.

"I see. I've actually got to head back to work, now. I just happened to notice some juniors, heheh." She laughed kindly, and he was enjoying it. Quite a lot.

"Alright. I'll be around, too, so swing by if you want, okay?"

"I'll keep it in mind. Goodbye!"

As they waved and split paths, Yosuke was already imagining a wonderful future with her. One where they lovingly spent their days with great children and--

_Gah, what am I thinking?!_

All he knew was he was going to see her again. Maybe he could even make a move sometime down the road.

Oh, how the future wasn't kind to one Yosuke Hanamura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Say, I can't name any fanfics off the top of my head that cover the 6 months Yosuke was in Inaba before Yu arrived. Anyway, comments would definitely be appreciated!


	2. Strange New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With time passing, things have changed, including a mysterious new transfer student. Yosuke spills a bit more to him than he thought he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just updated the format to include dates now! This is ultimately gonna help me a lot, so I can actually keep track of what point in the game I'm at.
> 
> And oops, this is where I say I have to update the promise to say there will now be four chapters! Mainly due to this chapter taking a lot longer than I realized it would, there's now a chapter before the last one I had.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy a tale involving a teen obsessed over kung-fu movies.

**_4/12/2011_ **

Hopping onto his trusty bike, he started riding down the roads to get to school.

Six grueling months of a school year had passed, with the city transfer being true to his words, near below average marks. Though, since the first month, he hadn't really been able to talk to his first two friends as much as he'd have liked. Occasionally, they'd hang out at Junes, or Aiya's, or... any place involving food, he realized.

Just a week before the start of the new school year, he borrowed this 'Trial of the Dragon' DVD from Satonaka, with the promise that he'd watch it to 'understand her obsession'. He earned a swift hook to the chest for that. He was just on his way to the first day of school when--

"Whoa _whoa!"_

He crashed his bike straight into a street lamp.

"Ow, _shit..._ That hurts, hurts, hurts!"

It took two minutes of groaning in pain, barely noticing some students pass by, that he grabbed his backpack, still lying on the floor.

Muttering in defeat, he mumbled out "Fine, I'll just walk the rest of the way, _universe."_

Absentmindedly, he checked inside his bag to make sure he had everything, when he saw the Trial of the Dragon case. Panic swelled in him as he noticed the slight scratches and the DVD already forced open.

_Oh no please sweet Gods don't tell me-_

Frantically opening the casing, there was the DVD.

Snapped in half.

Yosuke actually screamed in terror.

Throwing the cover back into his bag, he made a mad dash towards the school, dodging a puzzled Chie and a very neutral transfer student.

"Huh," the gray-haired teen remarked, "he recovered fast. Guess he didn't need my help after all."

"What's up with him?" Chie asked her red-clad friend.

"Who knows?" she simply shrugged.

* * *

Yosuke was lying flat onto his desk, mentally going over several possibilities of how to avoid the murder that's bound to happen.

Running away outright was a no go, as he _told_ her he'd be returning it on this day. She would know, track him down, and he'd die.

Maybe replace the DVD? To do that, he'd need time and money, both of which he didn't have any of. She wanted that movie back _now._

How about--

"Settle down, assholes!" An annoying voice ratted at the class.

His train of thought broken, he'd have to decide what to do during the lecture.

Eventually settling down, the teacher started. He introduced himself as Kinshiro Morooka, then just rambled on about how they shouldn't be swooning with love... _Something about... pure as the driven snow? The hell does that mean?_

"...Now I hate wasting my time, but I better introduce this transfer student," Morooka said, obvious annoyance in his tone. "This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage." 

Yosuke jolted up at the mention of "transfer student" and "city". _Is-is there someone like me?_ Looking over to the silver-haired boy, he celebrated internally. _Finally, someone who can suffer with me!_

"Tell 'em your name, kid, and make it quick," Morooka finished his ramble about 'loser city kids'. Not that he cared, really.

The transfer student, who wrote up his name as Yu Narukami, apparently _did_ care.

"You calling me a loser?" he snapped as he turned over to stare at the middle-aged teacher.

Everyone in the class gasped in unison, Yosuke included, he had to admit. _First day of school and he's already fighting against a teacher?_

Morooka just grunted as he yelled about writing Narukami into his 'shit list' immediately. From there he just went on and _on_ , ranting about their culture that teenagers created for themselves. Yosuke took this as the chance to slip back into a plan.

Now, how about replacing the DVD with a cardboard lookalike--

His mind immediately punted that horrible idea out the window, burned it, and sent its ashes to the deep reaches of space. He was undeniably sure that was what Chie would do to him for trying to pull _that_ trick. Where did he even get that idea from?!

_Y'know what, I'll just hand it to her and run._

Content with the plan, teen with dyed hair started sliding in his headphones, when a certain kung-fu lover—a fact she refused to reveal to him until November—spoke up.

"Excuse me?" she called the teacher, "Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?" She was pointing next to her, to an empty desk.

"Huh?... Oh, yeah, sure," he lazily decided. "Hear that? Your seats over there, so sit down already!"

Narukami appeared to mutter something else under his breath, but quickly complied to sitting down next to Chie, who soon started whispering to him.

Even through _Yosuke's_ ears he could hear them.

"He's the worst, huh?" The light brunette remarked to the new student.

He quietly chuckled before responding. "Tell me something I don't know," he whispered back.

At his request, Chie's mind wondered for a couple seconds, then looked behind her. In her line of sight—a blast radius, really—was Yosuke, now facing up to the both of them. "Well, did you know Yosuke-kun here's a transfer student, like you?"

And she just had to drag him into their small talk. He didn't _want_ to start anything, as he'd risk her mentioning about the DVD before he even had a method of escape.

His mouth, however, happily carried on with the prospect of a new friend. "Yeah, I moved out here about... six months ago, now. Stepped into this town and within a few hours helped--"

"Do I hear kids _talkin' shit?!"_ Morooka loudly accused the classroom. Taking the hint, Yosuke shut up, and they all didn't speak for the rest of the lecture.

* * *

All too soon for the Junes prince, the first day was over. With a wave off that normal lectures started tomorrow, the teacher prepared to leave, when the intercom went on. 

"Attention, all teachers. Please report immediately to the faculty office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."

"Mmph, you heard the announcement," Morooka raised at the class. "Don't go _anywhere_ until you hear otherwise." He stormed out of the classroom, clearly not happy with the development.

Yosuke stood up, replaying the plan, adding a few refinements here and there, and even came up with an exact route of escape should it come to that. While he heard the idle chatter—and Chie commenting something about Mayumi Yamano, an announcer part of that affair—the intercom came up once more.

"Attention, all students. There has been an incident in the school district..."

_Huh? Oh, damn, what happened?_

The announcement continued to explain that officers were around the area and to leave the school campus quickly. Yosuke was very curious about exactly _what_ happened, though. A car crash? Drug dealings?...

This was all assuming Inaba was even worth it enough in criminals' eyes to traffic drugs.

He was brung out of his thoughts hearing her speak once more. "I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit next to you, right?"

The transfer-- _Narukami_ nodded. "Of course. Thank you for saving me from _King Moron,_ as the school calls him."

She giggled at his response before introducing Yukiko Amagi to him.

While this was happening, he popped out Trial of the Dragon, ready to hand with _perfect_ confidence.

...Then, after they finished their small talk, _she_ started walking towards him. He had to follow suit, but he was already shaking.

_Shit, shit! Don't fail me now, body!_

"Uh, um." Yosuke didn't know how to start. "Miss Satonaka?" She tilted her head ever so slightly, acknowledging him. "This was really awesome. Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see and..."

Passing the DVD to her, he immediately failed.

"I-it was an accident! Please just have mercy until my next paycheck! See ya! Thanks!"

He tried to run off after that... and actually got out of the room!

Of course, if he was even going to think she wouldn't chase him, all he did to prove himself wrong was look behind himself.

And he swore he saw an enraged _dragon_ in hot pursuit.

_"YOOOSUKE!"_

Not the first time that day, he screamed in horror.

Meanwhile, still in Class 2-2, Yu Narukami had to ask: "Does... this happen often?"

Yukiko just gave a tired sigh. "Since November of last year."

* * *

"I-I'm sorry, Narukami-san," Yukiko started. "I'm sure Chie would definitely be accompanying you in the walk home, but she and Yosuke-kun fight so much, we sometimes miss out on sleeping over together because of it."

Yu and Yukiko were now walking nearby one of the neighborhoods, where a large crop farm could be seen. They both didn't hear from the other two after Chie stormed off in rage after Yosuke. He didn't say it, but he silently bet Chie caught him. He put 1000 yen into that imaginary bet.

"Hm," he simply hummed after a pause. "Personally, I think it's _repressed feelings."_ He tried to sound it out exaggerated, but he never could get much range out of his soft-spoken voice.

Yukiko still snickered, though. "Repressed feelings... I see what you're saying there, Narukami-san," she giggled.

He thought she was about to go into a full-blown laughing fit, but she quickly seemed to stop herself before that slipped. "I'm not sure," Yukiko admitted. "There just seems to be something tense between them. I tried to ask her about it when she visited the Amagi Inn, but--"

"Amagi Inn?" Narukami cut in. "Sorry, but what is it?"

"O-oh," she uttered in response. She didn't expect him not to know, but was internally glad. "Um, just an inn my family runs."

From there, they chatted some more, sliding in theories about the pair, and ended up encountering the police, Yu's uncle Ryotaro Dojima included, working on something about dead bodies hanging from telephone poles. 

_Shit,_ Narukami thought to himself, _is... all this... what that long-nosed man meant?_

* * *

Slamming the door shut, Yosuke crumpled over to the couch in the living room and dropped down, moaning in pure pain.

He was _so_ close, he really was, but he ended up trapped in an unexpected alleyway near the Hanamura residence, to where Chie got close—uncomfortably, yet strangely comfortably close—and threw up her leg, kicking him straight in a man's pride and joy.

"I'm not done with this yet, _Hanamura."_ She had spat at him as she left to basically let him die.

He didn't want to think about what she'd do to make him pay for the broken disc. One thing's for sure, he's gotta replace it. Where would he find that movie, though? Junes would be a good start, he figured. _Pfft, maybe I'll find them on some kung-fu aisle, next to the graveyard._

He gave himself a good chuckle, but soon imagined Ms. Deadly Legs pummeling him for the remark, and he sunk lower into the couch. His dad wouldn't be at home often, being a manager and all, so he was often left to himself these nights. He got out the remote and checked the news.

"--woman was found dead near the Samegawa river on Inaba."

Yosuke widened up, sitting straight. _Whoa, what happened?_

The announcer continued speaking. "The deceased has been identified as Ms. Mayumi Yamano, a 27 year old announcer at the local television station."

 _That_ Mayumi Yamano? Jeez, she was just on the news recently for the affair. Based on what Yosuke's seen, he figures it could have been one of the two in that incident who killed her.

"The body was found hanging from a large television antenna atop a local resident's roof."

 _What the hell?!_ That was definitely bizarre. The news said authorities don't know why, and Yosuke didn't, either. Was that part of some sick warning from the culprit? He was at least one-hundred percent sure that couldn't have been an accident.

After the news finished covering, it went into a damn Junes commercial, where he shut off the TV once more.

He needed rest. School would await him once more, and he had a trash can awaiting him.

* * *

**_4/14/2011_ **

Falling straight onto the floor with a loud crash, the orange-haired teen tried to recall how he got here.

_Yesterday... Narukami saved me from a trash can. We became friends, I treated him to Junes, Chie hopped along—of course she did, I owe her for breaking Trial of the Dragon, we saw Saki-senpai, Chie talked about the rumor of the Midnight Channel--_

Oh. That's how they got there. They tried it that night, where one had to stare at a screen on a rainy midnight to reveal their _soulmate,_ Narukami claimed to have nearly fallen inside his TV, and while they were looking in Junes' electronic department... _Yeah,_ they all fell inside a television.

The detail that they all saw Saki-senpai as their soulmate bothered him greatly, still. _How would that even work?_ Yosuke thought to himself.

"Are... are you guys okay?" he heard Narukami say.

Yosuke had to lament, "Yeah, but _damn,_ my ass must be cracked now..."

"Uh, of course it is!" Chie retorted, wasting no time knocking on that sentence.

Yosuke rose up to his knees, noticing the weird setting they're in. _Is this... some sort of studio?_

"Whoa..." he expressed out loud.

"What now? D-did you pee your pants?!"

Right, he had to go to the bathroom. That... that would wait. "No, _stupid._ Look around."

Chie and Narukami did as such, noticing the atmosphere. "What kind of place is this?..." Yu spoke up.

"And all this fog... Or is it smoke?" _We'd be pretty screwed if it were the latter._ "N-no place like this in Inaba, right?"

"Hell no, that's for sure." This was easily the most interesting situation to happen since he got here, but... "What do we do now? This place is huge!"

"And I can't find the exit anywhere around here!" Chie pointed out, clearly panicking.

"Let's look around," the silver-haired boy suggested. "We may be able find a way out of here."

"G-good idea..."

"Yeah, if there's no exit, we're t-trapped for sure. Let's try to calm down and... go some direction." Contrary to his own advice, he himself was scared as hell, showing no signs of calming down.

* * *

Wandering about one direction, with Yosuke trying to quell Chie's fears about getting even more lost, they ended up in a dead-end, in a room of sorts. It was just downright _creepy._ Posters were lined all across the room, with every single one of them ripped down the middle. If Yosuke had to describe it, it was a hotel room ripped straight out of _Hell._

"Hm," Narukami thought audibly. "Doesn't the fog seem lighter here?"

"I noticed that, too," Yosuke responded. "I was actually just wondering if I finally went insane, heh."

Chie wasn't enjoying this one bit. "Augh, I feel awful right now. Like, what's with that _noose?!"_

Both males whipped their head to see the rope tied from the roof, with a chair lined up just below it.

"Holy shit," Yosuke uttered in fear. "That setup is never good..."

Yu took a good look at it. "Spooky."

 _How the hell does he stay so calm?!_ Right now, Narukami was the second biggest enigma to him in all of Inaba.

Chie Satonaka still took first place by a landslide.

Yosuke couldn't take it anymore. "AAAH! I can't hold it!"

"Yosuke, what are you doing?!" she snapped at him.

"I gotta pee! And I can't do it while you people are watching!"

"...Okay." Yu then walked out of the hotel room, back out to the apartment complex from hell.

"Narukami-san!" Chie was astounded, frankly. "Are you not even gonna stop him?! This is someone's room!"

He just opened the door a smidge, and popped his head out. "Why would I do that? I know the struggle."

Yep, a total enigma.

"Damn it..." He just couldn't release it, even when it's pressing him to escape. "If I get an infection this is your fault!"

"Like I care!" She wanted to get out of this place, fast. "Jeez, I'm feeling sick..."

With the zip up, he had to agree, this place was making him nauseous. "Let's just go back where we started, I'm not feeling well, either."

"It does feel heavy here." Even the newest transfer student had to agree. _Could it be because of the place's oppressive atmosphere?_

* * *

Backtracking once more to the studio place, they were talking about what to do with their current situation, when Chie made a whimper.

"Hm?" Yosuke inquired. "What's up now, Chie-san?"

"Is there... something in the fog over there?"

Looking as hard as they could over to where she was pointing. There appeared to be something round... _large..._

And it was walking towards them. They all froze. Waddling up to their clear line of sight revealed a... _mascot character? That's what it looked like. A big bear with blue fur, a sorta red suit... what_ is _this?_

"What... are you?" the stoic teen asked.

"That's what I wanna know! Who are you guys?..."

Chie gasped in shock. "Oh my god, it talked!"

"Wha? Of course I can, but you people aren't supposed to be here!" the mascot raised at the three. "You're riling up the Shadows and as you can clearly see I'm a beary busy bear!"

"We want to get outta here too, bear!" Yosuke yelled at him, getting him to... instantly cower in fear.

"Alright, you don't have to yell..."

Narukami placed a hand to his chin, thinking for a few seconds. "Do you know the way out?"

"Of course!" Springing back to normal, he 'stomped' his foot, causing a stack of TVs to spontaneously appear next to Yosuke and Chie.

"How did that..." Chie tried to ask, before promptly getting shoved around by the bear-like creature. "Hey! What're you doing?"

"Now everyone get outta here! I need to find whoever's been throwing people in here!"

Yu flinched in place for a second, and quickly tried to ask. "Wait, throwing people? What are you-- AGH!"

And the bear pushed them all into the televisions.

With the weird effect swarming around them once more, they felt like they were swimming across the air. A cool feeling, Yosuke had to admit.

Where they were promptly out of the transition and fell right into the floor of Junes.

"Hey," Chie spoke, rising up. "We made it! We're alive and out of that weird dimension!"

Celebrating just being alive, Chie and Yosuke ended up hugging one another.

_Feels awesome to be alive!_

_Feels great to-- Wait a second!_

...That was soon broken by a swift knee to the gut.

"Don't take advantage of the situation, idiot!"

Yosuke made a detailed note to himself never to get his hopes up when it came to the carnivore in the green jacket.

Narukami laughed heartily at his expense, but still gave him a hand to lift from.

"C'mon, everyone. We should all rest after what happened. _Please_ don't make it worse for him, Satonaka-san."

"I just needed to punish him! Anyway, I'm gonna sleep, I'm so tired..."

He waved Chie off before turning back to Yosuke.

"So," he began, face unreadable. "You and Chie, huh?"

This just made the Junes heir confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought you of all people would know what I'm implying. Shame." Yu walked off and out of the department store, leaving the teen with headphones even more puzzled.

"Me and Chie?..." Taking just a few more seconds, he followed the grey-haired teen.

Then it clicked.

"W-whoa whoa _whoa!"_ Yosuke finally reacted, quite defensively. Narukami could very clearly see the heat in the teen's face. "Hell no! I couldn't even get close with her if I wanted to, anyway..."

"Hold your horses, Hanamura, I was _kidding,"_ he reassured. "Though, if you don't mind me asking, what do you mean by that?"

 _Shoot, he saw right into the piece I_ didn't _want to elaborate on._

"Well... uh." Yosuke didn't want to spill it, but he knew it would only be an awkward secret if he held it back now. "I guess I'll explain... Where do I start?"

* * *

**_11/14/2010_ **

_A fresh breeze came out in the air as the teenager, sporting his now iconic headphones, sat himself down next to the Samegawa river. He always loved November, if he had to be honest. It's the perfect transition to start going into the especially cold temperatures of winter._

_He was here for other reasons, though, and before long his client arrived. Turning his head at the rustling of grass, he sees Chie just behind him._

_"Yo, Chie-san," he started, "How're you?"_

_Walking to his left, she plopped down to the grass next to him. "Hey, uh, I'm doing fine. Inaba treating you well?"_

_Not at all,_ _he didn't say. He sure as hell would never say that, not about how the people at the shopping district rant over and over about Junes, not about that the Konishi family is definitely one of them, especially with their daughter working part-time, and_ absolutely _not about how he has to keep up façades every day just to stay--_

_"...Not well, huh?"_

_His head snapped so quickly he was a bit surprised (and a bit sad) he didn't break it right then and there. "Um," was all he could mutter as he looked back at the river._

_"You didn't have to say anything, y'know. I think I can already see what's been happening."_

_He scowled at that. He didn't want this conversation. "This was not the point of me bringing you here, damn it."_

_Chie responded with a glare at 'Mr. Easygoing'. "Then that's what we're making it into. So, just tell me what's wrong."_

_"Hell no, I'm not telling you shit." He had to remake the proverbial mask,_ fast.

_"Then what do I do about it?!" She was standing back up at this point, furious._

_He started to lose it. "Nothing! You were the one to pry it out of me!" he shouted._

_Chie stood there, pure silence reigning the vicinity. He almost stood down from how emotionless it looked, but he felt himself keep going. "If I wanted to say something, I would've said so on my own terms, but apparently nothing's safe from those damn... copper eyes of yours."_

_Realizing his admission, he turned his head away awkwardly. After a pause, he added, "Just... stay out of my business, nosy--"_

_Pain kicked straight through the left side of his abdomen as Chie roundhouse kicked Yosuke, where he fell to the floor, groaning in pain._

_"Aaagh, shit..." he cursed, constantly rubbing his side._

_He clearly heard her shout, and he would never forget it: "Then leave me alone until you get help, dumbass!"_

_She stormed off out of the riverbed with him helplessly calling out to her to stay._

_"Please, wait!... I'm_ **_sorry!_ ** _"_

_It was too late. She had already ran out of the floodplain entirely. Yosuke slammed the grass with his fist; this was not how he wanted that friendship to go out._

_The pain of the kick finally subsiding—but not the pain of what it meant—Yosuke stood back up and trudged up the stairs, cursing himself out._

* * *

"Heh," Yosuke huffed bitterly after explaining _that_ story. "If she could help it, she avoided me after that until March. Every time we did have to see each other, it would always turn into a shouting brawl. Or me getting kicked somewhere, can't tell which one's worse."

Narukami went into a long thought at what Yosuke explained to him. Since Yosuke hadn't explained his own thoughts, stuttering whenever there clearly should've been, he had to work with what he got to help mend this complicated relationship.

Ultimately, Yu had an idea. "It seems it's been exactly five months since then, right? Today's the 14th."

"Really? Huh."

He nodded. "I don't know too much about what you guys are like, but sitting down and _talking_ about it definitely helps. Right now we have this whole other... _world_ to deal with, and what that bear said at the end still bothers me, but you two need to find the time to meet up and resolve it. I can only see it staying like this otherwise. And, hey, you can always get even closer with your bonds then you ever could've imagined--"

"You were _so_ close to having the perfect advice, man."

He just smirked at his friend's annoyance. "I have to go back now, it's really getting late. We'll talk about that other world some more tomorrow, right?"

"Definitely. See you, Narukami."

Thanks to him, Yosuke's given a lot to think about. Maybe if he wasn't such a mess emotionally he could have a shot--

_Wait, Saki-senpai! I gotta focus on her... but she wasn't at school yesterday._

Looking at the window to see that it's raining, he had a plan. 

Let the Midnight Channel reveal fate for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Creating some insight into their relationship was fun as hell. From here on, we'll only be jumping back to their time as first years when it's needed. 
> 
> Comments are my lunch, and I'll devour them all!


	3. Traumatic Realizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horrible things happen. Yosuke doesn't take it well at all, and the doppelgänger claiming to be him doesn't help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doot doot, gotta extend the promise into 5 chapters now, wowie. Man, I forgot just how much there was before the first dungeon arc (which to be honest is one of my gripes with P4). 
> 
> This was a fun chapter to write, though, so I hope you enjoy the tale featuring a stoic grey-haired transfer student.

**_4/14/2011_ **

"Saki?..."

Yosuke only watched in confusion and fear as he saw what the Midnight Channel showed him this time around.

The screen being extremely clear, a far cry from the night before, it showed Saki Konishi _contorting_ in pain, as she appeared to be choking from some sort of invisible force.

In that brief moment he had the idea to try and get in there to- to _save_ her somehow, but all he felt was the glass of the screen.

At the end of the broadcast, she stopped flailing in the air from the assault, and fell down to the ground, her eyes in a limbo as he could only assume her... knocked out. _That has to be it._

The program fuzzing to a pure black once more, the borderline panicking teen went into dark thoughts on what he saw.

"That was just a TV program..." he was outright whimpering to himself. "It isn't real, Hanamura. She's fine, and she'll be at school tomorrow."

Yosuke Hanamura could not sleep for the rest of the entire night.

* * *

**_4/15/2011_ ** ****

"Yosuke-kun, are you okay?!" Chie asked, lifting him up from the ground. "That was, like, the seventh time you crashed into something today!"

"H...how would you know tha..." Yosuke had to stop himself for a large yawn. "You were watching me the whole time for something?..."

The light brunette huffed out a hefty breath of air. "Dude, I think _everyone_ could see you, even in the fog," she replied. "Plus, do you- do you not _see_ all of the bruises on you?"

Yosuke dropped his head to check himself out, noticing scratches on his hand, a bump on his head, and rubbles of dirt throughout his clothing. He looked so poor, he nearly broke into a laughing fit.

As it was, he just chuckled at his state. "Whoa... Heh, I look like I belong on the streets of the city."

"It's a miracle you didn't suffer any big injuries, dummy!" she yelled at him.

"Sheeeesh, you sound like you actually care about me a lot, Chi... cheese."

"Not anymore now that you just said that," the carnivore spat. "See you at school, klutz... Wait, Yosuke-kun, did you hear about what people are gossiping about?”

“Eh?... What about it?” He didn’t want to know, if he was being honest. Usually it’s the same bullshit over and over, usually talking about this or that--

His tired thoughts were broken by the sound of police sirens blaring in the background. _No. No, no. She’s fine._

Chie fidgeted around in place, definitely uncomfortable with the possible cause of the sound. “I hate to say it, but... I think there was another incident.”

Yosuke gave a borderline lifeless gaze ahead of him. He didn’t want to hear this. “I...”

He stopped himself, however. Remembering in the nick of time just what happened the last time he tried to push her out, he bit his tongue. It was already a miracle she gave him a chance in the beginning of March, he didn’t want to break that... If it wasn’t already literally broken like a DVD, anyway.

After an uncomfortable pause, he restarted. “Let’s, um, just... just get to school. I’m sure we’ll...” Another yawn. “Hear more shit from the other students.”

She wasn’t satisfied quite yet, however. He figured she was never happy when it came to him. “Wanna explain _why_ you’re so tired, Yosuke-kun?”

He had just prevented himself from genuinely pissing Chie off, but this time he _seriously_ didn’t want to clarify. He opted to do a roundabout way of avoiding the question. “I’ll answer later, alright? Just... please quit bugging me about it right now.”

As much as she did want to see just what was wrong with the boy, the girl in green at least understood when to take the hint with him, now. Not realizing it earlier was what caused their period of silence and _violence._ She recalled in hindsight just how much of their seeing each other during that time was orchestrated by Yukiko, just trying to get them to talk again. _As usual, she’s as perfect as always,_ Chie bitterly thought.

“Fine,” she said at last. “But you better follow up with that promise, okay?!”

“Yeah, yeah...”

* * *

“I... regret to say I have a terrible announcement for all of you,” the principal began.

They had called the student body for an assembly on short notice. With the teacher calling that the headmaster had something to say, Yosuke, Chie, and Yu stood alongside one another. The tense girl muttered that her red-clad friend should’ve been here after lunch, and wondered out loud what they were holding the meeting for all of a sudden. When Narukami tried to ask what was wrong with Hanamura, since he was being silent, Satonaka just responded that he wouldn’t tell her.

“One of our third-year students, Ms. Saki Konishi of Class 3...”

 _No,_ Yosuke ran through his mind. _Please, no. No, no, NO!_

It ended up slipping out of his thoughts.

 **_“NO!”_ ** he suddenly yelled out loud, immediately regretting the lapse in judgement. Everyone turned to him with a range of looks. Confusion, bewilderment, annoyance.

The ones that stood out most of all we’re the two looks of pure concern. Yu Narukami and Chie Satonaka.

“Ahem,” the principal ‘coughed’ loudly to gather their attention. “Saki Konishi of Class 3... _has passed away.”_

_Devastation._

_Traumatized?_

Those were the emotions running through the teen, and they showed on his face. As the principal continued on their _bullshit,_ another feeling ultimately took over.

**_Numbness._ **

Staring down into his shoes, Hanamura made an almost disapproving grunt as he started slipping out of the crowd.

“I have been assured by the faculty that there's been no evidence that bullying was involved in the incident.”

He didn’t have any logical sort of reasoning to why he wanted to leave, his body just told him to run away from danger.

“So mind what you say, not only to the police but to anyone who asks…”

 _This... this is dangerous._ _  
_

“Found dead?...” He didn’t know who said that. He didn’t care. “Y-Yosuke-kun?” _  
_

 _I want to leave._ _  
_

He was so close to the edge of the room, _so close to running away from danger,_ when he sensed something. It seemed like it was coming from his right shoulder, and turning his head he saw a person.

“Y...Yosuke, wait. Please don’t run away...”

_...Chie?_

His head finally clearing up once more, finally being able to _feel_ again, his eyes revealed to him the familiar figure of his very first friend in Inaba, deeply worried.

“Huh?...” He forgot what happened for one blissful moment, before it came crashing back to him when audible whispers and movement started. _Seems they’re clearing out, now._ “Oh, um. You can go on ahead with Narukami. I... just need a minute.”

Chie honestly wanted nothing more than to help comfort the poor teen, but she knew he needed his space. This was a horrible time for them. “Okay,” she relented. “But come back to us quick, alright?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Chie.”

“Um,” she muttered out of embarrassment at the dropped honorific (though she wouldn’t admit she wasn’t much better), “You’re welcome. You just needed someone to snap you out of that daze you were on, and I can’t blame you. This sucks...”

Waving her off, Yosuke just watched as the last of the stragglers cleared out, meanwhile piling on theories about the Midnight Channel.

The most logical one he came to was--

“Hey, you shouldn’t be here. Get back to class already!”

...He should explain it to _them,_ anyway.

* * *

Walking to the staircases of Yasogami High, he overheard Chie commenting to Yu once more.

“Sheesh, it’s easy to toss around theories if you’re not involved.”

He would have argued it was actually easiest if you _were_ personally involved and _were_ full of grief, but he didn’t have the energy to ever say it. He had some dangerous ideas brimming within him, anyway.

“Yo,” he called to them. They turned around to see an especially conflicted teen. “Did you guys check out the Midnight Channel last night?”

The girl was frustrated at his question. _Why ask this question now?!_ “Yosuke-kun, not _you_ too--”

 _“Just listen for a second!”_ he hollered. Seeing her pipe down immediately, he continued. “Something was bothering me, so I watched it again... The girl on the screen _had_ to be Saki-senpai. And-and she looked like she was _writhing_ in pain. After a while, she just... fell down, lifeless.”

The normally stoic teen was frankly shocked. “Holy shit...”

Chie couldn’t say anything, out of pure guilt that she thought he would be disinterested in her death. _Wait- Of course he’d care, what am I saying?! He had a... blatantly obvious crush on her..._ _  
_

“And I think you just heard that Senpai’s body was found similarly to the announcer’s, right? Well, uh, and I overheard some guy being excited that the announcer was his soulmate.”

Narukami was beginning to piece together where he was going with his point, and felt a chill run down his spine. “Are you saying Mayumi Yamano was on the Midnight Channel before her death, too?”

“Wait,” the pondering girl realized, “Does that mean people who appear on the Midnight Channel... die?”

“Well, I-I can’t say for sure, but I can’t just dismiss it as coincidence.”

It hit a strange silence after that, with everyone thinking over the discussion. It was at that point Yu remembered an important detail the bear-like creature said while they were in the TV.

“Didn’t that bear we saw in that other world say that someone’s been throwing people into the TV?”

“Yeah!” Yosuke continued, “And it tried to get us out of there, saying we weren’t supposed to be there and we were... riling up the Shadows?”

“Whatever that damn place was, it definitely seems dangerous,” Satonaka commented.

Yosuke kept going, following everyone else. “What about the room with all the torn up posters? I feel like that definitely has _something_ to do with the announcer’s death.” He felt like he was just rambling at this point, so he figured he should step back and state his point. “I mean... don’t you think there’s some kinda connection? Couldn’t that other world have something to do with their deaths? I-I can’t be crazy right? There has to be _some_ reason that Saki-”

He was in an episode. For a brief moment his emotions took over him again. The two observers knew this wasn’t going to be easy for him, but quickly enough his white-haired partner snapped him out of it with the touch of his shoulder. “Slow down there, try to calm down.” Yu comforted. The boy in distress woke up to reality once more, and decided to hear him out with a sigh.

“If it wasn’t for me being there myself, I would’ve brushed it aside,” the transfer student said. “But... yes, you may be right, Hanamura.”

Chie still didn’t say much, unsure of where this was going.

“Well, thank goodness it isn’t just me, then,” the teen said, relieved. “So, if there is a connection, they definitely must have gone inside the TV world, leading to their... deaths. And if the room was connected to the announcer, if we look around, there has to be a place related to Saki-senpai.”

It was at that moment the girl in green looked at him in disturbance. “Wait... you-you- don’t tell me--”

“Yeah, I’m thinking about going back in. I wanna find out for myself.”

Out of pure concern for his safety, she said without thinking “Don’t do this! Just let the police handle it and-”

 _“You think we can rely on the police?!”_ Yosuke spat out at her. “They haven’t even made progress on the announcer yet. Besides, they wouldn’t believe us if we told them about a world inside the TV!”

“Hanamura, calm down,” Yu practically commanded him. “Just keep going.”

He did as such, taking deep breaths. “If I’m completely off with all of this, that’s fine. I just... I need to know why Senpai had to die like this.”

Now Satonaka felt completely awful. “Oh, Yosuke...”

“It’s just... I can’t ignore this now. Narukami, you’re the only one who can help me,” he said. “I’m gonna go and prepare. I’ll meet you two at Junes.”

Walking to the lockers, grabbing his shoes, and going out of the school, Chie looked towards the pondering boy. “I get how he feels, but can we even get out safely the second time?” Releasing a sigh, she asked him. “What should we do?...”

“Well, what do _you_ want to do?” Yu reflected back at her. “I have a feeling I have no choice in the matter, myself.”

She was stunned at how smoothly he sent the pressure back. “W-wha? Um, m-me? I-I don’t know, I’ve never had to deal with this...”

“Me neither,” he simply replied. “Either way, we should head to Junes.”

“Yeah, we can’t just leave him alone. Who knows what dumb things he’d be doing, especially in his state.”

* * *

Walking around Junes while waiting for them was a bit relaxing, if he had to be honest. For Yosuke’s plan, he needed some way to defend themselves, a rope to pull them out of the Midnight Channel once they were done, and some sort of pain-killers in case they got hurt.

Heading to the Sports department, he got himself a golf club. A baseball bat _would_ have been more effective, but scrambling to save some money... a club works too. In the Construction department, he grabbed a rope, making sure it was _extra_ long. This would absolutely be necessary to escape the Midnight Channel once they were done with the investigation. Finally, in the Pharmacy department, he grabbed some bandages and ointments to help with any pain they got. These... work just as well, he figured.

Returning to the Electronics department, he waited just in front of the same TV as the last time they fell in. _Thank god people don’t show up here often,_ he thought. A few minutes later, and the two finally arrived.

“Hey, you guys actually came!...” He was quite relieved, as all of this money spending would’ve been for nothing.

Of course, Chie had other reservations. “We came to _stop_ you, idiot!”

Yu was immediately confused at her outburst. “Wait, what? I wasn’t going to stop him.”

 _Hey, you were supposed to help me, Narukami-san!_ Pointedly ignoring him, Chie continued. “C’mon, you shouldn’t do this, it’s just too dangerous...”

“I know,” Yosuke admitted, “But we were able to come back once, right? If we go in from the same place, maybe we’ll see the bear again.”

 _“Maybe?!”_ Chie nearly shouted. He cut her off before she could continue, though.

 _“Look,_ I can’t just act like everyone else, pretending this has nothing to do with me.” He was being extra argumentative, but Hanamura really needed them to trust him on this. “What about you, Narukami? Could you have just walked away from this?”

The grey-haired teen was put on quite the spot. He knew he had his answer, but as his sight wandered over to the anxious girl next to him, he began to second guess himself.

Yu eventually had an answer. “I know I can’t walk away from this, but Satonaka-san...” he drifted off, hoping his companion going into the TV world got the idea.

Fortunately, he did. “No worries, it’ll just be you and me going in. In fact, I need her to stay out here to hold this.” He handed her the end of the rope, with the other end tied around his waist.

“H-hold on, is this rope going to be used as a lifeline? Wait a second--”

Yosuke didn’t want to hear any more of her counterarguments. He was going in, no buts about it. “Here, Narukami, these are for you.”

Given the tools, he had to ask: “I appreciate the support, but a golf club?”

“Anything’s better than going in empty-handed, right?” He decided not to tell his mysterious friend about his shortage of funds. “Now let’s go, we shouldn’t waste any more time.”

As Yu opened up the portal into the TV just by touching it, Chie called out for them one last time. “H-hey! I said _wait,_ damn it!”

Hanamura just said in response, as he went inside the TV: “Whatever you do, Chie, _do not_ let go of the rope!”

* * *

The ‘team’ walking to their destination, Yosuke was downright creeped out by the atmosphere.

When they had fallen into the TV, they were immediately stopped by the mascot bear. He accused them of throwing people into the foggy world, with the both of them vehemently denying so. Eventually revealing his name as Teddie (go figure), he explained how when the fog shrouds their world, it lifts in this world, which makes the Shadows—whatever the hell those were—really violent, making the TV world lethal. Trying to ask about the Midnight Channel didn’t get anything, as Teddie didn’t know what it was. _Finally_ having to promise that they’ll catch the culprit, he handed them glasses that allowed them to see in the deep fog; offered... moral support because he cannot fight, a claim Narukami tested to great success; and took them to where the last victim was.

After navigating through the TV world, they appeared to have ended up in a twisted version of the shopping district, with a strange background striped with red and black.

“What’s going on here?!” Yosuke called out. “This looks just like the shopping district!”

Teddie offered answers, though it was just plain unhelpful. “Some weird places have appeared here recently. Things are getting so untangled, I don’t know what to do.”

Yu caught something odd about the bear’s behavior. “By the way, why are you standing so far from us?”

“Hey, you better not be planning to high-tail it if something comes up!” Hanamura continued in frustration.

“Of course not!” He quickly defended. “I just, erm, don’t want to get in your way while you investigate.”

Ignoring the mascot creature, they quickly looked around, more questions filling up. The orange-haired teen spoke once more, his thoughts leaking out. “Man, they really went all out with this. Y’know, out of all the places, why’d they replicate this one?...”

“How should I know?” Teddie simply responded. “This is reality for the one who’s here.”

Both of the investigative boys just stared at the bear, entirely confused by his statement.

Trying to break the ice, Yosuke just sighed. “As per usual, nothing you say makes sense.” Realizing what the image of the particular location of Inaba meant, he had a new idea. “But if this is our shopping district, we’re not far from Saki-senpai’s...”

Suddenly kicking into a run, his newfound determination figured Konishi Liquors might have an answer. With Narukami and Teddie trailing behind him, he jogged up the shopping district until he spotted a new red and black light circling in on the liquor store. Slowing to a stop, he let the others catch up before talking.

“I knew it! This is the liquor store that Senpai’s parents run.” The apparently impatient teen had a few more thoughts. “Does this mean... Senpai disappeared here? What could’ve happened?...”

Yu noticing the TV world resident flailing his arms in panic, he just asked him. “Hey, what’s wrong now?”

“T-they’re here! Oh no, oh no, oh no!”

“...What?”

“The Shadows! I had a feeling they were going to attack!”

With that, the nightmare began.

Out of the portal, masks began seeping out before dropping into the floor, a black blob connected to the mask. It didn’t seem to do much else before it began floating in the air, flipping itself into a purple and black striped ball _monster,_ having nothing but an overly large mouth. Everyone but Yu yelled in terror, and the monster—no, Shadows—started rushing onto them. Yosuke braced himself for his inevitable doom. “Damn it!... Sorry, Chie!”

But nothing happened to him. Instead, his closed eyes brightened up, presumably a light of some sorts. Hesitantly reopening his eyes, he turned to the source and saw an unbelievable sight.

“What the hell?!”

Yu Narukami was glowing, having a cool blue light surrounding him, and a titan wielding some sort of spear behind him. Apparently, this enraged the two freaky Shadows, as they both headed his way to strike him down. He just left a devilish grin as he began combat with the two.

“Give them _hell_ with Zio, Izanagi!” he yelled.

And at his command, the giant knight snapped his finger as a bolt of _lightning_ struck down on a Shadow. Giving him another free shot, he cast another noise of thunder as lightning hit the other blob of a monster. With both of the terrifying spheres down, the borderline supernatural teen commanded Izanagi to stab one of them before throwing the skewered Shadow into the other, destroying them both as they were reduced to black ashes.

As the giant humanoid disappeared, Yosuke still stood on the sidewalk, staring at him in pure awe, fear, and... _envy._ He didn't know what that power was, but one thing he would _never_ admit, he was pretty jealous.

Catching his expression, Narukami just gave him the brightest smile he had ever seen from the stoic teen. _Whatever the hell that was, he sure feels great. I guess I gotta give him props for saving our butts._

"Wow, Sensei, that was amazing!"

_Sensei?! Come on!_

"Dude... What was that?"

"Hm," Yu hummed, thinking about how to explain supernatural ideas as if they were nothing. "A façade used to overcome life's hardships, manifested as this Persona."

Hanamura just looked at him like he was on _drugs._ He unconsciously muttered his thoughts out. "You think I can do it, too?..."

_You think I can finally be as special as you_ _have been from Day 1, damn it?!_

* * *

He was hit with that numbing feeling once more. Entering the liquor store, voices that had trailed into the outside shopping district had only been louder, all spitting horrible stuff about Saki-senpai. To top it all off, Senpai's voice came in and thought of Yosuke as--

"Boohoo, I'm so sad," he sniffed. "I feel _so_ sorry for myself, boohoo!"

Teddie and Narukami whipped their heads towards the shaking teen, who had his head turned towards something else.

"Who the hell?" he uttered out.

Everyone turned towards the true culprit of the sarcastic self-pity, it was revealed to be... _another_ Yosuke Hanamura. It looked ominous, however, with a dark blue aura surrounding it and distinct yellow eyes.

"Two Yosukes?!" the bear panicked out.

"Actually," the strange Hanamura continued, _"I'm_ the one who thinks everything is a pain in the ass."

 _H-how does it... No, I have to defend myself._ "Wha- What are you saying? That's not true--"

 _"Hah!"_ it mocked him, "You just put on a good show of being _carefree_ and _happy-go-lucky_ because you're terrified of being alone. The more the merrier to block out the pain of isolation, right?"

The fact that the other two weren't saying anything was drilling the pain even more. _They're probably judging me, shit, shit, shit..._

"And yet, you're still a failure at even that! Saki-senpai saw through you, and backed away from you time and time again. You even left that friendly mask down once, and Chie could easily see right through your bullshit and saw who you really are, and rightfully _dumped_ you!"

All that had put Yosuke in a panicked stagger. "S-stop it!..."

The other Yosuke just laughed at him. "Why so panicked? I thought I was spouting bullshit!... Or maybe, I _do_ know everything, because I am you! Come on, you just came into this other world because it sounded like something to do in this damn town! 'Avenging Saki-senpai', what a bunch of--"

"Hell with all that!" the teen spat at 'himself', enraged. "There's no way you're me! _You can't be me, you son of a bitch!"_

The aura intensifying, adding shades of red, the yellow-eyed counterpart laughed maniacally. "That's right! Say it again!"

Pure denial fueling him, he tripped on the wire once more. "You're not me... We're nothing alike!"

The dark blobs of the Shadows fusing with one another into the big mass the other Hanamura became, it all bursted into an explosion, knocking Yosuke nearly unconscious. The last thing he saw before he lost himself was Narukami rushing in front of him and breaking a card, summoning his Persona as he readied himself to fight against the giant frog monster that had been created.

"I am a shadow, the true self..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized quickly not dedicating a chapter to the Shadows of the two main characters separately was pretty lame in my book, so we'll be focusing on a certain meat enthusiast next. 
> 
> Comments are like a car accident, I won't turn away from them!


	4. Accept Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the strange encounter, he spends time recovering. It doesn't last long when a new victim turns up, with Chie on a rush to save them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the mix-up: There isn't an extension! The fifth chapter will be the final guaranteed one, and it'll come out super quick, I promise! After that, I'll extend it whenever I'm feeling up for it. Hope you don't mind.
> 
> Regardless, here's a tale that has a red-clad young woman, if you hadn't forgotten.

**_4/15/2011_ **

The next time he gained consciousness, the twisted version of himself returned, this time boring a slightly frowning expression. Turning his head weakly towards the grey-haired teen showed him worn the hell out, clearly having taken some damage. Him offering his hand to Yosuke, he graciously took it, standing up to look at his mirror.

"Yosuke," the bear piped up, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... What happened?..."

His shadow turns to merely stare at Hanamura, and using the last of his denial, he throws one last sentence at it.

"You... You're not me..."

Yu only gave a tired glare at his friend's continued denial, too exhausted for anything more. "Yosuke, don't make this difficult."

Teddie continued with a nod. "If you deny it, it'll attack again. You have to accept it, Yosuke."

"But..."

"No matter what your dark thoughts say," Narukami cut in, "You're still the best Yosuke Hanamura I know. I'd wager everyone has a side like this, too."

He finally gave up with a heavy sigh, and quickly thought of some things to say. "Okay, uh... Damn, how do I even begin to admit all this?" he cracked. "Well, I get it, man. Hell, I'm pretty sure I knew what you were saying is true, but I just kept denying it since I haven't played a role that wasn't just 'carefree'... I guess I haven't done that since I moved here. Yeah, I'd only kept people around solely to make myself feel less alone, but I promise you, that's going to change. I'm still not fond of this town, but I have a couple genuine friends now. I think I can finally stop wearing some mask just for them to stay. In regards to Saki-senpai... you're right in some ways, but I truly loved her. Ugh, though, hearing Senpai call me a _pain in the ass..."_ He cursed himself for a moment before starting again. "Regardless, I'll talk to Chie-san. You'll know when I did just that, because you're me, and I am you."

The shadow gave a slow, accepting nod, before the dark blue aura intensified once more, this time into a cool blue color of light. Eventually lifting into the air, the Shadow turned into a frog ninja humanoid, wearing a borderline disco suit.

"Persona... So this is my new power. I'll take it, _Jiraiya."_

Turning towards his confidant, he just gave a great smile as he understood why he felt great after the first battle.

"Thanks for being here, Yu. You rock."

He just flashed a thumbs up as he turned to the exit. "We should get out, the Shadows might return."

"Yeah, I'm feeling damn tired now, too..."

Teddie hopped in the air as he gestured them along. "Follow me, and I'll show you the way back!"

The mascot leaving the liquor store, the Narukami just leaned into Hanamura and whispered to him, "Please remember to talk to Satonaka-san. It seems you have a bit more with her than what you told me."

"I know, but not today. I'm so drained..."

He just nodded, a smile permeating. "I'll take that."

* * *

He didn't understand at all why this was happening. He'd never even seen her like that.

Chie kindly reminded him why, throwing a rope at the confused teen.

"Ow, what the--"

"You goddamn morons! Do you _realize_ how long you were gone? I thought you would have died in there! The rope..." she stopped, unable to hold back a hefty sniff, "The rope got cut off and I got scared stiff for you! Then you just _pop_ out going 'Hey' like nothing happened?! Stupid, _stupid_ jerks..."

As she continued on her unfocused tirade, Narukami slowly slipped out, telling Yosuke to offer her his apologies when she asked. Leaving Chie to just himself, he patted her shoulder.

"W-what?!" she yelled.

After silently praying for his wallet, he made her an offer. "...Five beef bowls."

She perked up to look at him at the mention of meat. "Huh?"

"I'll give you five beef bowls, alright? I'm _so_ sorry for getting you worried like this, especially leaving you sobbing."

She squeezed her brows close, thinking about his heartfelt offer. It didn't seem like him to voluntarily offer her-- Oh, who was she kidding, it was _definitely_ like him. 

She decided to play a mean joke. _"Ten_ beef bowls."

"Ten?!... Okay, I can do that."

"Hah, uh, I was--"

"Just expect one beef bowl a week for the next ten weeks, okay? My pay isn't good enough to do it all at once."

She was about to correct him again, but decided to take in his kindness. He probably would've refused her if he did hear her. "Then it's a deal," she said at last.

"Cool," he said to prepare himself for what he was going to ask. "Uh, you wanna walk home? Honestly, I have some stuff to talk about with you, still."

"Hm," she thought for a brief moment before deciding "Sure. I think I'd rather head home now, anyway."

"Sweet. Let's get outta here."

* * *

He really did think he should have saved this for tomorrow, but the kung-fu fan always left a surprising effect on him. _Maybe it's me keeping myself on my toes thanks to her, I dunno._

Just stepping out of the department store, popping out her umbrella to deal with the rain, Chie restarted the conversation. "So, um, what happened in there?"

"Well, we were... able to investigate the death, thanks to the bear creature named Teddie." He kept shifting himself as he talked, visibly uncomfortable. "Going around, we heard these weird voices... all of them going on about how Senpai betrayed the shopping district working at Junes."

Satonaka stayed quiet, giving a small nod to continue.

"Then we went inside, where we heard Saki-senpai's voice."

_Danger. Bad. This is dangerous. Do not say it._

The worst part of him screamed that in his head, but he knew he was better than that. "Saki-senpai, uh, said her true feelings about me. N-not the mask she held on around us."

_STOP IT. DANGER. DANGER. PLEASE--_

"Agh, she called me a pain in the ass!" he suddenly shouted. "And I-I know she's dead, but it still _hurts_ to hear, damn it..."

"Y...Yosuke-kun, wait a--"

"But you know what? I knew all this the whole time, I _really_ did, but I chose to blindly ignore it, because losing her means being lonely all over again, and-and I don't _want_ that. Not after nearly everyone in town gives me scowls and refuses to talk to me just because my Dad manages Junes here! I wanna fit in here and like this place, I really do, but who's even going to accept me here--"

Chie grabbed his hand and pulled it in roughly, wrapping her arms around him for a hug. Having dropped her umbrella, his umbrella offered the last of their protection. She could hear the rain patter as he stood unmoved.

"It's okay, Yosuke-kun," she said from the bottom of her heart, "You know we're all here for you... me especially."

Unsure what to make of the occurrence, his damn hormones _not_ helping, he slowly drew his arms out to return the hug, lowering his own umbrella in the process.

"Um, t-thanks, Chie-san. I-I, heh, still gotta get you that beef bowl, right?"

Breaking the physical show, she curtly nodded. "Of course, dummy. You owe me."

"As per usual," he sighed. Lifting his umbrella back above him, they had now gotten wet from the rain, though she strangely didn't mind it. Truthfully, he hadn't, either. "Let's get to Aiya's now. I'm kinda hungry too."

Yosuke's wallet cried out for help when Chie ordered the Mega Beef Bowl later that day. He stuck around for the entire time she tried to eat it—but only because he had to! Then he was forced to pay up the 3,000 yen as she predictably failed eating the entire Mega Beef Bowl, as well as the money for his own beef bowl... regular-sized, of course.

"Man, you looked so gross chomping on that thing, I'm almost glad you failed it."

"You damn jerk!" she retaliated with a punch to the side.

A jolt of a cry escaping him, he weakly apologized before she cut him off. "You should try actually _meaning_ it when you say sorry, sheesh. Maybe then I wouldn't have to use force."

Still rubbing the bruise, he commented, "You wound me. Literally. Heh, you'd be like a crappy cop if you did this with everyone else."

Satonaka quickly turned her head at what he said, shocked and almost uncomfortable. "I-I guess, but since it's only you, I would be fine!" Following up with a very forced laugh, Hanamura became very skeptical of her again.

"Uh, yeah. Anyway, I wanted to talk about what happened back in November."

_"What_ thing that happened in November?" she tried to divert, speaking awkwardly fast. "T-the thing Yukiko definitely tried to set up for us that looked way too much like a date? Yeah, I know, that was ridiculous of her--"

"Chie. You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about. How many missed calls did you accumulate that day alone?"

She gave a rough sigh. "25."

"Cool, now let's _please_ talk about the elephant in the room. Sitting between us. Preventing us from talking like _normal--"_

"I get it, okay?! Just take this elsewhere!"

Exiting the chinese dinner, they walked down the shopping district, en route to their neighborhood. He noted that it was already starting to get dark, so they had to make it home soon.

"Look, I just wanna talk about that day again, and--"

"I thought we were _over_ this, _Yosuke-san."_

Shit. She already went to _San_ with him, just like then. _"Hear me out!_ I get it, alright? I really wasn't doing well with how everyone treated me for being the 'sole destroyer' of the shopping district, and I needed to let out my frustration. Turns out picking you was an awful choice."

Instead of doing _anything_ he expected her to do, she just asked, "...How are you doing with what they say now?"

Thrown for a curveball once more, he just replied honestly. "Um. A bit better, I guess. I've learned to just drown it out since they started directing it at my dad. I feel bad, but he can take it like a champ."

Chie just smiled earnestly to him. "I'm glad to hear that. Let me know if there's anyone talking crap, and I'll come kicking in! Wataaah!" She struck a cheesy kung-fu pose as she belted a cry, earning a hearty laugh from Yosuke.

"Hey, what're you laughing for?!"

"I can't help it," he talked while chuckling, "You're so cute when you make dumb poses like that!"

Chie stopped dead in her tracks, just staring at Yosuke. He was too focused wiping his tears off to notice the bit of blush on her cheeks, before she shook her head profusely, yelling at him all over again.

"The hell do you mean _cute_ if you're laughing at me?!" Not feeling up for more violence, she just shoved him around.

"Ah! Damn it, I haven't felt this great in a while."

"Good for you," she muttered. Seeing that they were already close to his house, she just asked one last thing. "What am I supposed to take from this whole, er, 'fight' we had?"

Hanamura gave it a thought for a couple seconds before giving a non-committal hum. "Not much, I guess. I just wanted to throw those thoughts I had in retrospective. Not the greatest way to deal with me, y'know?"

Going into the residence, Satonaka just stared at the front door in bewilderment before walking towards her place, the rain still falling into the night.

* * *

"...In other words, she's a manager who's still in high school."

Chie looked towards the TV that had been idly running. She still couldn't wrap her head around Yosuke's change in mood. He definitely seemed to be having more... fun? Since he admitted Saki-senpai's feelings, it seemed like he felt far more free from everything. It weirded her out, but she couldn't complain. _Maybe he finally got himself sorted out..._

"Huh? Um... are you speaking to me?"

_Yukiko?_ The screen showed her best friend, clad in an elegant pink kimono. They were at the gazebo in the Samegawa floodplain, and she looked almost annoyed at the reporters.

"We've heard that you're the new manager," the _creep_ of a reporter said. "Is it true that you're still in high school?"

"Oh, I-I'm only filling in temporarily."

The bowl-cut girl could barely handle any more of this. Her precious friend continued being hounded with questions by the pervert on screen, and she couldn't do anything about it.

Her mother thankfully shut off the TV before she broke, though. "Some people, I tell you. They either just want the money or _really_ desperate for some girls in their life. You haven't run into trouble like that, have you?"

She rubbed the back of her neck as she replied. "A couple of times since I started high school. Most of them were directed at Yukiko, but I always come in with a swift kick! Hiyah!" She lifted her leg up to perform a high kick as she said it.

Her dad walked into the living room with a smirk. "Just keep on doing that, and you should be fine. You oughta slow down and find someone though, right?"

"Huh? Find someone for what?" She gasped quickly as she guessed, "a training partner?!"

"No, no," Mrs. Satonaka cut her off. "He means in _romance,_ Chie-chan."

She immediately flushed in embarrassment at this topic returning. If she had to be honest, this had been going on since they caught her walking home with Yosuke once. Chie knew what that meant if she hadn't done anything, and she made absolute sure they diverged away from it being the Junes heir himself as fast as possible.

"Nope! I'm not dealing with this _again!"_

As she bolted to her room, she could clearly hear the laughs of her parents in a successful tease.

Closing the door, she trudged along her training equipment. Unceremoniously dropping down to her futon, she left a large groan at her parents' attempt to pry romantic feelings out of her. Again.

_What do I even offer, anyway? I just like kung-fu. I'm not smart. I don't cook well. I'm not..._ cute. _I-I... I wish I were Yukiko. She's beautiful, and she constantly denies it. She lounges around with what I_ don't _have!..._

Chie Satonaka resorted to letting out a few tears jerk away from her eyes before she remembered that it was still raining. Quickly wiping her eyes out, she waited the clock out until midnight.

The last she remembers before sleep overtook her was a silhouette of what _had_ to be her best friend, still in that kimono. On the Midnight Channel.

* * *

**_4/17/2011_ **

"Yukiko! Come on, pick up the phone!" 

A few more painful rings later, the phone line was established.

"Chie-chan?" It was her mother. Not who she was looking for.

"U-uh, sorry, but do you know where Yukiko--"

"I do not, no! She's disappeared since last night! None of us can find her anywhere in the inn!..."

_Please... not like this._ She was already near the inn, so she ran inside, hanging up the phone. A few agonizing minutes later didn't reveal anything.

"N-no... She really disappeared..." This would not do, she knew. She had to find those two and do- _do something._ She pulled out her phone yet again and tried to call Yosuke, since she didn't have Narukami's number. Walking out of the inn, she thrust her phone to her ear, hoping to god he picked up the phone.

It did not get picked up. "Damn it! Um-- Junes! He should be at Junes."

Taking off into a sprint, she looked towards the department store, ready to jump inside a TV if she needed to. She was _not_ about to lose her childhood friend.

She would later be surprised to see the two being taken into a police car and driven off towards the police department. _What the hell are those two thinking?!_

* * *

Finally being let go after a nasty chew out from his uncle—Ryotaro Dojima—Narukami listened in on the two officers walking by them in the department.

"Wait, so the one who disappeared was the Amagi girl?..."

Yosuke immediately whipped his head towards the conversation, his fears ever increasing.

"Seems like it... but she's just a high schooler, you know. 'Could be she just ran from home."

Walking out of their earshot, the recently formed Investigation Team muttered between each other.

"Looks like we really do have to go in again," Yosuke whispered.

"Mhm," Narukami agreed. "We should prepare ourselves for the rescue--"

He barely finished speaking when he bumped heads with a young detective. One who was out with Dojima on their first day, _throwing up_ when he saw the body hanging.

"Whoa, pardon me... Huh?" The detective realized something. "Aren't you the kid staying at Dojima-san's place?"

"Yep, that's me."

Hanamura butted in with a question. "Oh, can we ask you something? It's about Yukiko-san—er, Yukiko Amagi of the Amagi Inn. Did anything happen to her?"

"Wha?... Um, am I allowed to say..." The black-haired detective pondered over the conflicting matter. "Well," he finally said, "if you're friends with Ms. Amagi, keep this between us, okay?"

"Rest assured, we won't needlessly publicize the situation," Yu said frankly.

Quickly passing the coffee to another officer for his superior, they all walked towards the lobby, spotting Ms. Deadly Legs waiting there.

"There you guys are!" she quickly yelled at them. "What the hell happened?!"

Yosuke quickly defended himself from the assault. "Hey, it was just a misunderstanding! But this guy here knows about what happened to Yukiko-san, so pipe down!"

"Wait, you guys know, too?"

_"Well,"_ the police worker coughed, "we got a phone call from Ms. Amagi's parents, who said they couldn't find her anywhere. Since it's the weekend, the workers were all busy, and none of them spotted Ms. Amagi."

Chie just looked down to her feet, anxious to get out and save her Yukiko, already. She gave a slight turn of her head towards Hanamura, who looked especially concerned. Just knowing he cared meant a lot more to her than she realized.

"We've found that the announcer was staying at the inn before her death too, so some theories have been bubbling up."

Narukami already looked almost angry. _He's probably three steps ahead of the rest of us,_ Satonaka thought. _"Please,_ tell me what those theories are implying," he nearly spat at the detective.

"U-uh, we've been thinking that Ms. Amagi has actually been laying low from Inaba for one reason or another... I mean, I heard Ms. Yamano yelled at the manager, so she might've--"

_"Come the hell on!"_ Chie yelled out. "You think Yukiko's the _culprit?!"_

The frightened officer raised his hands in defense. "P-please, it's just a theory..."

She snapped. "Well, it's _bullshit!"_ She ran up to tackle the detective, before quickly being pulled back.

_"Chie!"_ Yosuke stopped her. "Calm the hell down!" Throwing his arms around her waist, he pulled her in, keeping the innocent detective safe from her rage. At the same time, Narukami held a grip on her arms, preventing her from getting charges for assault. During all this, more officers walked in on the ruckus, almost about to pull them all back in the slammer.

Thankfully, she eventually calmed down. "Ngh... But..." Finally, she finished struggling in his arms and slacked, nearly dragging the both of them to the floor.

"Come on, Yosuke," the silver-haired teen said. "We should get out before we cause more trouble for all of us."

Speeding along just out of the department, Yosuke agreed. "Yeah, but we still need weapons to defend ourselves, and they already confiscated them..."

"Oh!" Chie suddenly blurted out. "Let me _go,_ and I'll take you to this place I know!"

Following her orders, the smug teen remarked, "Fine, but you better not charge on any more detectives."

"And you better take me with you guys to that other world!"

_Wait, WHAT?!_

* * *

Having fallen into the TV enough times, Yosuke knew how to stick the landing, and his partner even more so.

Chie wasn't quite as lucky. "Shit, my back!..."

"I always knew you were an old woman in disguise..." the Magician cracked.

"Oh, shut up!"

Hearing a familiar squeak, Narukami quieted everyone down to speak to the resident of the TV world, Teddie.

"I smell one, Sensei! Someone fell into the TV world!"

They all knew what that meant. "So Amagi's already inside the TV?" he asked, though it was more of a formality.

"Seems so, Yu. Do you--"

"What's with you guys dropping formalities?" Chie smirked.

"Long story, we don't have the time," the Fool diffused.

Turning back to Teddie, Hanamura started over. "As I was going to _say,_ lead us the way to where Yukiko-san is, bear."

"But what about the fair maiden you guys brought with you?" Teddie inquired, a lovey-dovey face turned on.

"Uh, it's Chie Satonaka to you!" she let the mascot know, very annoyed. "Now take us to Yukiko, damn it!"

"Alright, alright, I'm beary sorry!"

* * *

She didn't know how she entered this blind rush, if she had to be honest. The last thing she remembers was them looking at the entrance to a giant castle made for royalty. Once Teddie confirmed that the Amagi heir was in there, Chie's feet did the talking for her. She could hear the yells from the boys telling her to wait, but they didn't know _shit_ about how she feels. The green-clad woman told them as such during their visit to Daidara Metalworks, before they picked out their weaponry. _Sheesh, what would Yosuke ever know, anyway--_

Then she found herself in a familiar room. One where all of the color had been drained out of it, but it was still a room in the Amagi Inn. _Yukiko's room._

"Yukiko. Meaning 'snow'. It's transient, melts quickly, and worthless."

Satonaka looked all around for the voice, _her_ voice, but she couldn't see much else, other than the room itself, still stuck in monochrome.

"But Chie... She said that red looks good, perfect even, on me."

At the mention of the color, small pieces of the room began to regain their red color, like her futon, and a small Santa toy that waddled up to her...

The normally energetic girl was completely frozen, terrified of the world shown around her.

"Without inheriting the Inn, I'm useless. But... she gave me meaning. She's kind, strong, confident, _free._ She has everything I don't. I _wish_ I were Chie..."

Finally regaining her voice, she began to mutter stammered reactions. "Y-Yukiko, w-wait..."

The voice continued, not acknowledging anyone else. "As it stands, the only thing I can do is watch from afar... I think... I may be in--"

"'Chie is _so_ kind', huh? What a joke!" she said.

...Wait, that wasn't her.

Finally facing forward to see another _her,_ she quickly realized what it was up to. "W-who are you?!"

At this moment, the door behind her blasted open once more, revealing the very boys who let her into this other world.

"W-wait," Yosuke said, "Is that?..."

"It must be another Shadow, Yosuke!" Teddie confirmed. "She's lost control over her suppressed self!"

Yu just let out a deep sigh, already aware of how the entire interaction was going to go.

"Are we talking about _that_ Yukiko? She says I'm protecting her? She even states that she's worthless?!" The yellow-eyed copy let out a nasty cackle at her own words, angering Satonaka.

"I have _never_ thought that! W-what are you saying?!"

"Aha! I haven't even said anything, and I'm already getting a _charge!"_

"Chie-san!" the desperate teen with orange glasses said. "Don't say anything else!"

"N-no! G-get away from me!"

_"Ooh,_ and what about that _Yosuke?_ He looked pathetic, and to think I almost pitied him..."

Narukami's eyes widened to new levels as the Shadow commented on his friend. He was well aware that they were already shaky, but how far down does the rabbit hole _go?!_

"But the damn servant spoke up against _me_ of all people, and I had no choice but to punish him! _No one should be in control but me!"_

Hanamura continued to stand there, not saying anything, as Satonaka began to tear her eyes away from him, mortified.

"A real shame, I almost found him _handsome--"_

From the beginning, that's all it took, and the doppelgänger knew it.

"Shut up, shut up! You're..."

"Chie, wait, don't say it!"

Yosuke knew it was a useless cry, however.

_"You're not me!"_

Fueled by the denial, the Shadow gave a sadistic laugh as all the Shadows around her began to pile up to one another, all the while a dark red aura whipped around her, attracting them.

Eventually, it all amounted into a devastating explosion, with Chie near the epicenter. "Augh!"

The conflicted teen barely grabbed onto her in time, watching as his grey-haired partner smashed his card, summoning Izanagi once more.

As for the Shadow itself... _whoa._ A true dominatrix, it was sitting upon blank-faced Yasogami students, with a banana-shaped cloth covering it's head.

"I am a shadow, the true self," it proclaimed. "What do you think you're trying to do, defending the 'real' me? You'll pay for that!"

"Quit being such a pain!" the Magician yelled at her, then briefly turned towards the unconscious carnivore. "Just hang in there a little longer, Chie...san."

The formality was feeling more and more tacked on, and Yu caught it, but decided not to comment. They were in a life or death situation, after all.

"Quick, shut her up with Garu, Jiraiya!"

* * *

_Eventually_ struck down by a powered up slash from Izanagi, the demon fell off her tower, dissipating back into her former form as the copy of their friend in a green jacket. They were both worn the _hell_ out, and a few scares happened with hits from Mazio, but they eventually prevailed, at the cost of most of their energy.

As if on cue, Chie stood back up, regaining consciousness.

"Thank goodness you're okay, Chie-chan!" the mascot said to her.

She just grunted, before walking slowly towards her... fake. It looked just as blankly quiet as Yosuke's shadow was.

"What's the matter? Got no...nothing to say anymore?"

"Stop it, Chie," Yosuke affirmed himself, "it's alright." Frankly, he was just so tired he didn't want to deal with anything else.

Narukami joined in to nail the coffin. "Everyone has a side like this, Satonaka. Even Yosuke had his own thoughts on you," he added with a mysterious smile.

"Oh, come on!" he whined. "It's really nothing we need to focus on... A-anyway, you still have a shadow of your feelings haunting you, so accept it."

She just laughed awkwardly, saying in a low voice, "Jeez, this is embarrassing..." Turning to fully face her darkest self, she began. "I think I get it now. You're a side of me I tried so hard to forget existed. No matter how much I despise you... you're still me. I promise you, though, I will set things right with Yukiko. No matter what, I'm still a very real friend for her. You are me, and I am you."

The doppelgänger gave a slow nod, and even a smile, before it backflipped into the air and awakened with a blue light into a yellow-outfitted female warrior, wielding a two-headed naginata.

"This new power... this is a promise from me to you, _Tomoe."_

Reverting into a card form once more, she felt herself feel more refreshed than she had felt in a long time...

...Before exhaustion completely overtook her and she fell to the ground once more.

"Chie!" she could barely make out. "Hold on, we'll take you back out safely..."

"We'll come back for Amagi tomorrow, okay?"

Right, she had to save her best friend, still. She was already losing herself again, but the distinct warmth she's feeling... it felt nice. _I could, mmph, stay in this warmth for a while longer._

They would storm the castle another day, she thought, before losing consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, this was a good one. Writing the spunky girl is super fun, especially when you throw in some sweet moments. Heck, just getting to write some Yosuke/Chie moments really gave me the drive to finish the chapter.
> 
> Comments are my currency, and I want as much of it as possible.


	5. Ruined Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally taking down an ordeal, something strange and terrifying happens. It brings two people closer together than they expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, the final chapter!... Of the initial arc! It does feel strangely freeing to be done, but at the same time, I'm proud of what I've brought here. Oops, though, I should save more of my final thoughts for at the end.
> 
> Without further ado, here's the end of an arc involving a princess trying desperately to escape her fate.

**_4/19/2011, Floor 5_ **

Yu Narukami was a natural leader, everyone quickly realized. He opted to let them make their own calls for the most part, but whenever they were in a bind, he knew when to issue commands, and they eventually knew to follow them down to the nugget.

A slight issue with him, however, is how much he worked them to _beyond their limits._

He was at least merciful enough to give them a day of recovery after the encounter with Shadow Chie, during which Narukami managed to snag Satonaka's number (much to Yosuke's chagrin, in hindsight). The two founding members instead found themselves hanging out that day in Souzai Daigaku, munching on beef croquettes. The orange haired teen awkwardly mentioned how infamous he was throughout Inaba, with the leader only offering his condolences.

Right now, though, he would rather take on the Mega Beef Bowl than go any further. "Jeez, man, I'm at my limit..."

"How many times are you two going to say that?" he coldly asked.

"We're serious, Narukami!" Chie countered. "I wanna save my best friend, but we can spread progress across multiple days, can't we?"

"The quicker we get through this, the less we can put ourselves in life-or-death situations."

"My energy might as well be on the death side..." Hanamura coughed out.

"Death..." Yu thought for a moment before blurting out, "That's it!"

"Wait wait _wait,_ what kinda idea do you have?!" she snapped in panic.

* * *

**_Floor 8_ **

"Holy shit, that _worked,"_ Yosuke muttered in amazement.

The silver-haired transfer just let out a smirk. "Told ya, you should’ve trusted me," he replied.

Death, as it turned out, referred to an Arcana card he grabbed after an encounter with Shadows. Thanks to _Arcana Chance,_ whatever that was, the different cards had different effects. One of them happened to be that Death dropped everyone's health down to their limits, but raised their energy for Personas to the maximum.

"Wha- You dropped us to the absolute last of our health just so we could get our energy back!" she yelled at him.

"Then I had Yosuke use Dia to patch us right back up. Not a bad plan, no? Plus, now we have no excuse not to finish this castle off."

As much as they all hated him right this moment, he wasn't wrong. It... _would_ be a waste to not use this newfound energy.

"...Fine," Chie relented, "thanks for helping to save Yukiko as soon as possible. But you _better_ not overwork us like that again!"

"No promises," he simply said before moving to the right side of the hall leading into what they hoped was the throne room.

"Great. Thanks, _partner."_

* * *

"Ooh, three princes have come!" Yukiko said. "My, _my,_ are you the surprise guests who came in late?"

Yosuke, along with everyone else, saw right through her. "I knew it! There's two of her!"

Just behind the princess was the daughter of the Amagi Inn, _still_ in the pink kimono. She looked absolutely pained from dealing with her other self for the past three days, and was on her knees.

"Why don't we go somewhere else?" her Shadow suggested. "Somewhere far away where no one knows me. If you're my prince, you'd take me there, won't you?"

Chie caught something during the speech. "Wait a minute, _three_ princes? Does... that include me, too?"

 _"Duh,"_ Teddie cut in, "the third one's gotta be me!"

Yosuke just muttered, "I seriously doubt that."

The princess merely chuckled at their bantering before answering Chie. "Yes, Chie's my prince. She always leads the way, and has her freedom in life. Oh, how I _long_ to join her in--"

"S-stop it..." the real Yukiko finally started.

And they all dreaded what _that_ meant.

Even still, the shadow smirked. "...Or at least, she _was."_

Visibly confused, Satonaka tilted her head. "What do you mean?..."

"When it comes down to it, me, Chie's just not good enough!" she began ranting to her kimono-clad self. "She can't take me away from here! She can't _save_ me!"

The light brunette felt a pang of strange guilt that she couldn't save her, whatever she meant, but more so that she never knew what she was going through. If only she wasn't so...

"I'm sick of all these things chaining me down! Historic inn? Pride of the town? What a bunch of bullshit!"

"How dare you?..." Yukiko could barely muster up.

Her Shadow only continued. "Of course, that's how I really feel. Isn't that right, _me?"_ she cooed once more.

"No," the raven-haired woman rose up, "t-that's not true!"

Yu tried to stop her. "Amagi, _wait--"_

But, as per usual, it was too late. "No! You're not me!"

With the shadows building up once more to the princess, she made suggestive remarks about her rising power. Eventually culminating into a burst of black, the true form of the Shadow was revealed, a caged red bird with the hair of Yukiko. The true black-haired woman flew back, with her best friend barely catching her.

"Don't worry, Yukiko," Chie simply said while holding her dearest friend, now unconscious. "I'll save you."

Yosuke only awkwardly turned away at the scene, feeling a strange churning within himself. He raised up his wrenches, obtained from revisiting the distorted shopping district, and charged at the Shadow.

“Send me your support to save people, Saki-senpai!...”

* * *

The battle was long and painful. There was a constant trading of blows between the two best friends especially. Being able to target the enemy’s weakness, Chie did her best to hold out through the whole thing. That wouldn’t go without saying she had her struggles. The clever phoenix knew and could use Chie’s weakness too. The team did their absolute best to keep both Satonaka alive while also making sure they hadn’t been taken out either, what with Amagi’s habit of dishing out damage to the whole party in one attack. Eventually, they had made a breakthrough. It was time to make the finishing blow.

"Double... Double Fangs!" the leader commanded his current Persona, Archangel.

Nearing the last of his health, the medieval knight swung twice at the colossal bird, finally bringing it down. With an anguished cry, the feathered form of the Shadow fell to the ground, reverting itself back to another Yukiko.

Following a strange silence, the Chariot was the first to speak up. "We... we did it!"

"That was a beary close battle! I couldn't keep my eyes shut!" Teddie lamented.

The Magician, barely standing back up from the ground, couldn't stop himself from yelling out in victory, his vocal cords already strained from the constant summoning and loud yelps of pain. "Alright! We totally showed that big Shadow what we're made of, right, partner?"

Turning his head slowly towards the rest of the team, he finally caught how the Fool was doing, which, _holy shit,_ wasn't good at all. Pulling most of the offensive weight in the battle had done a number on him. Yosuke was quick to dash towards him and summon Jiraiya.

"Start healing everyone with Dia, Jiraiya."

His other self complied, using most of his remaining energy to heal the burns and scars off of their bodies. They still lingered within their skin, but they would no longer pose a threat to their consciousness.

"Th...thank you, Yosuke," Narukami said gratefully, as he strained to rise from his knee.

"No biggie, Yu," the Junes boy responded. Looking over to spot the kung-fu fanatic still recovering, he had to ask. "Chie-san, are you alright?"

"Ugh, that could've gone so much better..." Still very pained, she barely stood up for a second before her knees gave out once more.

"Agh, shit!..."

But before her face was resigned to the carpet floor, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, keeping her lifted.

"No worries, I gotcha." _...Yosuke?_

"H-hey, what the hell?! Let go of me!" she yelled, her cheeks donning a tint of pink.

"And let you hit your head on the floor? No thanks. Now, grab onto my shoulders. We still need to talk to Yukiko-san."

Chie leaped out of his arms at the mention of her. "Yukiko, that's right--"

She fell face first into the floor. Groaning in pain, she just lied down in defeat.

Rolling his eyes, Yosuke looked up to see Amagi facing towards her Shadow, with Narukami supporting her. "It... it hurts to see that this is a side of me, if I'm being honest. Those feelings sound pretty childish now, spelled out like all _this."_ When she said that, she pointed all across the castle. "But no matter what you may harbor, I'll accept it now. That's because we're the same, aren't we?"

The quiet princess nodding in affirmation, it put its hands towards the rose on its dress before lifting into the air, a cool light enveloping it as it transformed into a Persona. One with the design of a dancer, with quite the sakura theme.

"I understand, now... Thank you, _Konohana Sakuya."_

Forming back into a card, it dropped down to Yukiko's hands, giving her a warm feeling as it disappeared into her mind.

"Very glad to see you've accepted yourself, Amagi," Yu warmly said.

"Yep, now we have another lovely lady with the same power Sensei has!" the mascot creature remarked.

"Yes... I should talk to Chie, but she, um, seems a bit out of it," she snorted, the both of them turning towards Chie lying flat on the floor.

"Uh, I'm still here, Yukiko! My damn legs just gave up on me. My _legs!"_

"You sure you don't wanna get a lift up from me?"

"Piss off, Hanamura."

"...Your funeral," Yosuke relented.

The kidnapped woman was starting to feel quite drained, so she fell down to her knee.

"Yukiko-chan, you okay?" Teddie tried to ask.

"...Um, who are you...?"

"Youch, that's a quick blow, Yuki-chan!" he said in defeat, before quickly recovering. "Do you remember--"

They were all interrupted with the intense rumbling of the ground around them.

"Whoa, what's going on?!" Yosuke asked, panicked.

"I-I don't know! This never happened before!" the TV World resident quickly replied, trembling.

"Shit. If it's what I'm dreading it is," the leader spoke up, taking a serious tone, "We may have to run. _Now.”_

Quickly looking around to notice debris starting to fall from the ceiling, the panicked teen put two and two together. "W-wait, you aren't saying this castle's about to _collapse,_ are you?" Hanamura piped up.

Yu Narukami took on the loudest voice he ever had in his entire life. "I am saying that, so let's _GO!"_

There was no time to argue with that one.

In a flurry, Teddie lifted up Yukiko, and Yu and Yosuke made a mad dash out the throne room.

Unbeknownst to them, one last member was left behind.

“Wa...wait, what’s going on?! Guys?!” she tried to call out. Satonaka was unable to see anything due to her still being planted on the ground, but when she rose up...

* * *

  
  
**_Floor 5_ ** **_  
_ ** ****

****Having gotten down three floors, they began to slow their pace by just a pinch, since the crumbles hadn’t gone too far down yet. The advisor took the second to check on everyone in the area.

Good ol’ Leader managed to be unspeakably calm, though finally showing signs of pure tenseness. _About time he showed some emotion,_ he thought.

The bear was still doing most of the heavy lifting, carrying the heir to the Amagi Inn. He had suggested they put her inside the costume before _quickly_ getting shut down by everyone, though Chie didn’t seem to say anything...

Wait a second.

“Wait, _shit,_ where’s _Chie?!”_ Yosuke yelled out.

Yu immediately froze. Having no time to waste, he looked around the group before quickly screaming out in frustration.

 _“Damn it,_ she’s all the way back at the top floor!” **_  
_ ** ****

****_Oh._ _  
_

_Dear god, no no no no..._ _  
_

Yosuke was horrified. If they don't go back for her, she's absolutely going to die. But it would waste too much time to backtrack now... would it?

 _Wait... that’s it!_ An idea clicked in his head. It would be the only somewhat feasible one, so he quickly acted on it.

"Yu, Teddie, go on without me. I'll go back up for Chie-san," he said, fully determined to go through with the insane idea.

“Wait, _what?_ Yosuke, don’t recklessly get yourself killed--”

 _“I know what I’m doing!”_ he quickly shouted. “Trust me, damn it, I’ll save her!”

Having no time left, the Fool finally relented, gesturing Teddie to continue with him.

"...Good luck, Yosuke." The gray-haired teen started back into a sprint, Teddie hesitantly running afterwards.

 _Alright,_ Yosuke thought, turning towards the stairs once more, _time to put this lankiness to work._

Yosuke took a deep breath. If this was going to work, he had to eliminate as much stress as possible. He had one shot to do this. It had to count. _In… and out..._

_“Sukukaja!”_

With the very last of his Persona's energy, his mobility was heightened, and he ran back up the floors as fast as possible.

* * *

**_Floor 6_ **

The crumbling debris had already started falling down. It wasn’t enough to disorient the road, but he knew the castle couldn’t hold on forever. 

_Why was the castle even breaking down in the first place?..._ _  
_

**_Floor 7_ **

The winding roads up here, on the other hand, were now starting to block off pieces of the road, not helping matters about her safety.

_Just press on and hope to God she's still alive, Yosuke..._

**_Floor 8_ **

Shoving the doors to the throne room open as hard as he physically could, he frantically looked around the crumbling room. Pieces of the roof were falling to the ground, but he didn’t care when he rushed to the middle of it all.

Whipping to his right, there she was, shivering on the floor. She must’ve been terrified out of her mind the whole time.

He couldn’t blame her.

Well, in fact, he could only blame himself for having this happen to her. If he just kept his eye on her, he could’ve remembered to bring her when they ran off...

 _Damn it, Yosuke,_ he insulted himself.

"I'm here, Chie-san!" he cried out as he ran to get her.

She didn't even move, she just continued to shake out of pure fear. _Did her horror shut off her hearing or something?_

Right next to her at last, he grabbed her arm with both of his, starting to lift her up.

"Y-Y-Yosuke?" Chie finally responded, voice almost broken and eyes red, definitely from crying. The second time he’s left her a crying mess, and both were his fault. He hated that.

"C'mon!” he called to her. “We gotta go--"

He was interrupted when she tightly slid her arms around him, pulling him close.

"P-please," Chie continued in a meek and cracking voice, completely unlike her. "h-help me."

Yosuke recovered enough from the hormones he was receiving to respond. _Not the time; we’re kinda about to die here!_ "Y-yeah. Get on my back, and I'll piggyback you out of here, alright?"

With a rapid nod, she let go and held onto the Magician's shoulders and then neck as he held onto her legs, him trying desperately not to think any impure thoughts as he started the run back.

* * *

**_Floor 7_ **

The blockages had become too high to climb across, and Yosuke's Sukukaja had run out, so they had to look among several different pathways.

There was quite a scare when one rather large block of the above floor crashed right behind them. He heard the loud yelp of his companion there, and just tried to trudge through.

With a trembling Chie in tow, Yosuke ran about until he finally found the damn staircase.

 **_Floor 5_ ** **_  
_ ** ****

****Thankfully, the destruction hadn't reached too far down here, so they could just retrace their steps back down. Yosuke thought it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world if he tried to talk to her soon. If only her panicked breathing wasn’t so... distracting.

 **_Floor 3_ ** **_  
_ ** ****

****"Chie-san, you there?"

Lightly calmed down, she hummed to affirm his response.

"I am so, _so_ sorry for leaving you behind. This place is breaking apart, and we-we didn't know what to do, so we just... ran without you. If there's anything you want, just say--"

"Why didn't you leave me behind?"

_Huh?_

"Wh... what do you mean?"

"I said why didn't you just let me stay there?!" the green-coated girl spat out.

 _“What?!_ Hell no! You're our friend! We wouldn't let any of us die!”

"Clearly I'm not if you _abandoned_ me in the first place! Who convinced you to get me? Yukiko? Just so she can laugh at me for how... how _worthless_ I am?!"

That Yukiko thing she was venting out... How long has she kept that in for? He sincerely hoped this wasn't going to spawn another Shadow from her. Regardless, this was getting him furious far too quickly. If she wasn't going to stop drowning herself in self-deprecation...

"Yosuke, _answer me_ , you fraud--"

_"Shut the hell up, Chie!"_

...He had to stop her himself.

She flinched in shock, gone quiet.

Noticing this, Yosuke began. "Look, I don't know where you got--"

**_Floor 2_ **

_"--that_ from, but you need to listen to me for a sec. Like I said, we're friends. Pretty good ones, at that. You've been best friends with Yukiko-san since childhood, right? I'd think after all this time... she wouldn't judge you for anything. Yeah, you had your thing about leeching onto Yukiko-san for her dependence on you, but you _heard_ what her Shadow said, she was looking for a way out of her family business! I don't know how you guys solve stuff like this, but I personally think you just need to really _talk_ to Yukiko-san after all this and sort this crap out between you two. You’ve both been hiding some big stuff from each other. True friends stay true to each other, right?"

He heard a contemplative hum from the Chariot, confirming to him that she was at least thinking about what he was rambling on.

After a long pause, he continued. "Another thing. Chie, you are _absolutely_ not worthless. Why else do you think I ran all the way up to get you? Sure, you don't act like a woman, far from it--"

"Hey, what the hell?!" she snapped back, pissed all over again.

"Okay, okay! Well, you _are_ a tomboy, but that isn't bad at all. Hell, I'd say your spunk's one of the things I, uh, respect the most about you. You're your own person, so you gotta stop comparing yourself to other people like Yukiko-san. Got it?"

Ms. Deadly Legs didn't say another word.

Content with his whole-hearted response, he just paced to the final floor before they were out of there. He thought about in hindsight just how much of that was taken from Narukami’s advice to him, but brushed it aside.

**_Floor 1_ **

This should've been the easiest floor to move through.

There was little to no debris, so he could take it slow and easy, he figured.

He could feel the now calm rise and descent of Chie's breathing, and, _uh, this feels... nice. Maybe things can work out back to somewhat normal for us, after all._

And then the ground violently shook them back down to the floor. Dropping her, Yosuke rubbed his back in pain.

"Augh, shit! What was..."

They could _hear_ the roof of the castle crash down a floor.

"Oh my GOD!" Chie cried out.

He tried to stand up but the ground rumbled again, the roof dropping one more floor and dropping him back down.

"Oh shit, oh no, we're gonna die," he kept muttering. "We're gonna die and it's _all_ my fault--"

“Shut up.”

Hanamura wandered his eyes up again, tears nearly jerking out of them. “H-huh?”

She didn't say anything, she just scooped Yosuke up and held him by his legs and back with her arms.

Before he thought of _anything else_ he would've thought of with this specific situation, one sole thought entered his head.

_Damn... she’s strong._

"Keep your arms around my neck. We're getting out of here alive, damn it."

Yosuke did exactly as told, and she started on the sprint.

The ground shook again, and Satonaka did falter, but she always did have a firm grip on her footing.

With a sudden fearless determination that took him by a massive surprise (though he surely didn’t mind), the brunette booked it across the rest of the floor.

One more shaking of the ground was enough to really terrify Yosuke.

"Ch-Chie, I think it's just above us!"

"Quiet down and let me focus, stupid."

All he could do was hope she found the--

"Look ahead! The exit of the castle is right in front of us!" she called out.

"Oh, thank god! I thought for sure we'd be dead..."

Chie strangely began to slow down to a near halt, but he didn’t care at that moment; he was alive.

"Yosuke!" Good ol' Yu Narukami.

"Chie?!" There's Yukiko Amagi, and though she regained consciousness, she’s still hunched over from being quite tired.

"Don't worry!” Yosuke called out to assure them, “We're safe and sound--"

A massive crash boomed across the vicinity as the roof dropped down to the first floor, Chie and Yosuke all underneath it.

The remaining three were left speechless, horrified with the scene in front of them.

Yu fell down to his knees. “Shit... God _DAMN IT ALL!”_ Slamming his fist to the floor, he started repeatedly blaming himself, a few tears finally escaping the man.

“Ch-Ch... _CHIEEE!”_ Yukiko cried out as she dropped to the floor, sobbing.

“Chie...chan? Y-Yosuke?” Even Teddie knew what this meant, and bore a surprisingly pensive expression.

“C’mon, are you just gonna sit there or help me break down this debris, Yosuke-kun?”

 _What?!_ _  
_

“O-oh. Y-yeah. Jiraiya, uh, bash at the wall of debris.”

_How did they?..._

After a minute of standing there, completely frozen, the blockage covering the entrance was busted through, with two figures emerging from it.

“Hey, everyone!”

“Y-yo. Uh, you guys... okay?”

They were immediately tackled by Teddie and Yukiko, both with tears in their eyes.

“Chie... Thank... thank goodness you’re okay!” Yukiko tried to keep herself level, but broke soon afterwards, crying in her shoulder.

“Yosuke! You had us all beary scared!” Teddie choked, before crying loudly.

Narukami finally dared to stare at the both of them, tears falling freely from him. “I’m sorry I failed you two. I-I know I should’ve checked, but I just didn’t and... Damn it...” He quickly went back to having a staring contest with the floor, guilt very evident.

“Hey, Yu, it’s alright, man. What matters is that we’re safe and sound... For real this time,” Yosuke tried to assure him, flashing a toothy grin.

Chie had her own thoughts on the matter. “I... I still need to talk to Yukiko about some stuff, but just know it’s okay, Narukami-kun.”

“Um,” Yu raised his eyes back at them, “Thank you. I think we should get out of here now.”

Everyone agreed with that notion.

* * *

Some hours later, and lying on the living room couch, Yosuke was already free from his Junes duties, leaving him nothing to do.

He used the time to briefly reflect on the day.

Although now whenever he does that, all he thinks of is the meat-loving woman herself, Chie Satonaka.

He knew without skipping a beat he made the good call making that rescue, but part of him also overanalyzes one particular part she snarled at him about.

_“Why didn’t you leave me behind?”_

Jeez, was she acting stupid or something? She saw how the castle got by the very end of all that, and she just wanted to be left dead?

Actually... that didn’t sound good at all if she essentially wanted to off herself, he realized.

_Hm. Maybe I should talk to her about it..._

As if the universe had heard his wish, his phone started ringing. Checking the ID revealed to be none other than Chie.

Accepting the call, he put it on his ear.

“Sup, Chie?”

“Um, hi. I was wondering if we could meet up on the Samegawa Floodplain?”

That place, eh? Well, he has time to kill, so... “Well, sure. But what’s the occasion?”

“I’ll... tell you then.”

 _Great, she’s gonna play vague,_ Hanamura dreaded.

“...Cool, then. I’ll see you in ten?”

“Sure, goodbye.”

“See you.”

Hanging up the call, he prepped up his usual outfit this time of the year and headed out.

Walking along the small town, he’d certainly grown a certain fondness of it since he accepted his Shadow. Maybe staying here wouldn’t be so bad. After all, things were shaping up to be _quite_ the year, and if they want a shot at finding the culprit behind these murders... and avenging Saki, they need a new lead. Yukiko could potentially be perfect for this, as _well_ as being a new Persona-user joining the team.

Before he knew it, he'd already found himself at the floodplain. Peering over at the gazebo sat Chie, idly sitting around.

“Hey, I’m here,” Yosuke said, calling her attention.

“Oh, hey, you actually came.”

“Of course... yeah, I did. Now, what did you need me for? It’s a bit late too, but whatever.”

“You probably weren’t doing anything anyway, right?”

“W-well, yeah. Anyway, spill it, ma’am!”

“Oh, fine, jeez. Um, part of why I called you here was to say sorry. I know I accused you of some nasty things while you were just trying to help me escape the castle, and if you hadn’t shut me up I probably would’ve, ugh, gone even worse.”

“Oh? You’re actually apologizing for something? Never thought I’d see the day,” he cracked.

“Hanamura, I’m _trying_ to be serious here! I know for a fact I had some low blows ready about Saki-senpai if you didn’t stop me.”

That caught him far off guard. He was already starting to hear some shit from some of the Junes workers about this exact thing. Needless to say, it pissed him off.

“I’ll be as blunt as possible with what you said, Chie-san. I probably would’ve considered dropping you right then and there.”

She winced at his icy words, but apologetically nodded.

“True, though, I should probably be serious about this, too. It’s okay, Chie. Really. If anything, I should apologize. On behalf of all of us, I’m sorry we nearly abandoned you. We absolutely didn't mean to, but the castle self-destructing did send us into a blind rush. Like I said before, if there’s _anything_ I can do to help mend this between us, please tell me. I don’t even care if it’s, like, fifty more beef bowls or something, I’ll pay for every single one of them just so we can remain friends. You’re... too important for the case going on to lose you now. You also make, um, a damn good friend.”

She flushed a bit at his dedication just to stay friends with her. Really, she wasn’t planning on leaving Yosuke at all. Despite seeming a clumsy, _crude_ man, his bouts of pure kindness, like whenever he wronged her, were always endearing to her. Add in his streak of seriousness throughout this mystery, and he definitely isn’t a bad guy at all. Quite the opposite, she had to agree with her Shadow.

Of course, she’d die before she ever said any of this out loud. He’d probably tease her to the graveyard. “Well, jeez, thanks for all that. I was never planning on dropping our friendship, y’know. You can be an alright person sometimes, so I’ll stick around for those moments.”

“Sheesh, am I _that_ bad?”

“Pfft, not really,” she admitted.

Hitting a bit of a lull in their conversation, Hanamura recalled one other important piece from their escape.

“I’m assuming you talked to Yukiko once you guys got home, right?”

“I actually did have a long phone call with her just earlier, since I couldn’t visit after I took her in,” Satonaka replied. “We mostly just talked about the issues in our friendship, admitting my, um, Shadow’s secret to her in the process, and we ultimately vowed together to be true friends again.”

“Calling it now, she _doesn’t_ think you’re worthless, right?”

“I _get_ it, Hanamura,” she snapped. “But, yeah, you were right. It was just solely tied to her whole Shadow thing with wanting to run away from the family business. I guess this segues pretty well onto my next point, um... thank you.”

“Thank you? For what?”

“You know, helping me! You did help out in rescuing Yukiko, too, but I’ll mainly save that for Narukami. No offense.”

“You wound me... Nah, no offense taken,” he chuckled. “But, hey, if it wasn’t for your quick thinking cutting out the roof with Tomoe, we’d be crushed on the first floor of that castle. Don’t sell yourself short, either.”

“I guess. It’s just, no one had ever really gone that far for someone like me. What do I have to offer that would warrant the rescue? Seriously... I’m probably the most expendable--”

“Stop yourself _right_ there. Yu’s the one spearheading this whole thing. I have a connection to Saki-senpai. And you,” he said, pointing a finger at her, “You have a deep connection with Yukiko-san, the newest victim. Don’t even _think_ of saying you’re not important. You’re a part of the Investigation Team. Everyone’s important.”

Eventually conceding to her friend and just taking in his words, she slumped down on her seat.

“...Thank you,” she quietly muttered.

“Huh?”

“Thanks for everything, Yosuke,” Chie said, a simple, earnest smile residing in her face.

“U-um.” The moments when she was genuinely heartful never did cease to catch him off guard. “No-no problem, I guess. What did I even do? I broke your Trial of the Dragon.”

“Oh. Right, you did do that. Finally, I have an excuse to hit you again.”

“Wait, _what?!_ ”

A swift jab at his shoulder was already enough to get him wincing in pain.

“Ow, what the hell, Chie?!”

“There, _now_ things are even between us,” she teased.

He dropped his head in defeat, muttering, “Of course.”

“I... guess we’re dropping the honorifics, huh?” she said out of nowhere.

“Oh, um, yeah. I was never one for ‘em, anyway.” Drawing his hand in front of her, he offered her a handshake. “I’ll just call you Chie, and you can call me Yosuke.”

“Fine by me,” she said, taking the handshake.

Deciding it was already late enough, they disbanded for the night. Heading out of the Samegawa Floodplain, they hit his place, where her’s was not far off.

“See ya later, Yosuke!”

“Goodnight, Chie.”

Finally dropping the honorifics around the green-coated girl with deadly legs, huh?

Yosuke was just fine with that.

_It’s progress, at least._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original reason I started this was one I didn't expect to affect me, but it boils down to "there aren't enough Yosuke/Chie fanfics, I need to fill in the gap". For some reason, the dynamic these two share I adore more than any other Persona game, even when this is far from the first time they've done it. Plus, I'd been writing for a while already, might as well take the plunge into fanfiction at least once in my life, heh. I certainly didn't expect such a lovely community for it, but maybe I'll return to this sooner than I thought. Honestly, I'll use this to encourage people to write their own, it's overall a fun process. 
> 
> Finally, shoutouts to UnbecomingName for beta-reading every single chapter of this and making general corrections and additions not there originally. Though not in the best state right now, check out his rendering work on Twitter! Mighty impressive stuff there.
> 
> Comments are like stars; ready to brighten the night with a twinkling light.


	6. [Interlude 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some things I gotta say since I can't think of a better idea, whoops.

Yo, I'm that darned author, and this is an interlude, if you couldn't tell. I come to bring good news and a question, no bad news (hopefully). The good news: Yosuke's Facet is coming back into full throttle! I realized after I finished Chapter 5 just how unsatisfied I was with that original story I keep talking about. I decided to put that into a major hiatus and return to it when I felt more confident doing it justice. For the time being, it'll be practice, practice, practice! With this as my lab rat, of course. I'm fairly positive now we'll be seeing this piece of work to the bitter end. Will it take a while? Probably, knowing me. But onto my question. At this point, we have a few different directions we can take this _Facetverse,_ I call it. One is to focus super hard on our major romances in this fic, with another playing super hard with the general idea of this AU. In essence, I've been thinking of bringing _original characters_ into play, as sort-of Social Links for our goofy boy. There is already an ultimate climax and payoff for all this planned, so the question begs if _you guys want to see that._ If you don't want OCs and wanna keep it more in line with the canon of the game, that's perfectly fine by me. As self-indulgent as this fanfic will probably get, I'm not gonna have much fun if everyone dips out too, y'know?  
  
Let me know in the comments for all this more than ever; I am a President, and comments are my democracy.  
  
Thanks in advance, everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and any more interludes I make will be kept up, by the way.


	7. Appease the Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally having time to unwind after the difficult ordeal, Yosuke's set to return business to normal... Well, as "normal" as the carnivore will let him have it, anyway. Yukiko ends up visiting an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, it's been over a month, hasn't it?... Super sorry for the ridiculously late update, even for me. School's starting to gun down on me, lack of motivation thanks to where we're at story-wise, yadda yadda. I still made a promise in the Interlude, and I intend to follow through on it... Just give me a while. As for OCs, eh, I've decided against it.
> 
> But let's cut the rambling and detail the misadventures of the Junes prince and the kung-fu fanatic, shall we?

**_4/20/2011_ **

During a particularly _odd_ day of school with teacher Mr. Hosoi, Yosuke had his arm supporting his head out of boredom, wanting to drop to the table. His mind had been running in circles after everything that occurred yesterday, what with having a near-death experience _several_ times throughout that day. He did like what came out of it with Chie, but in comparison... _Jeez, today’s just boring._

He'd been so tired he nearly considered joining an after-school club right then and there, before quickly thinking better of it. He instead used the time to evaluate his best friend and best frenemy. Yu had genuinely been an awesome friend and a great leader, though he'll be the first to admit that his quietness does get to him sometimes. Occasionally he forgets the silver-haired teen was there, which may be a problem. On the other hand--

"Hey, Hana-chan!"

He jumped straight up at being called, a bit stiffened from the nickname the teacher gave him. It was the very same one _Senpai_ gave him... "Y-yes, sir?"

"You look like the kinda kid who relies on his PC's spellcheck!" Mr. Hosoi blabbed as he pointed to the chalkboard, showing three words that all looked very similar. "But tell me, how do you spell this word?" 

_Don't you use big words on me, seriously?!_ Flailing around in his mind, he leaned forward looking like he was contemplating the answer, but began whispering to his (mostly) trusty partner.

"I mean, he's not wrong... Yu, please help me out here!"

He just gave a soft sigh before answering. "It's B, Millennium."

Relaying his assistance, he was met with unwanted praise and a _completely_ unwanted lecture. He pointedly ignored it and faced the two sitting in front of him.

"Phew... thanks man, I owe you one," Yosuke gratefully admitted, flashing him a grin.

"And _you_ still owe me for Trial of the Dragon!" his best frenemy whispered violently.

He was quick to snap back. "I'll get to that when you aren't sapping my money away, you leech!"

"Hana-chan! Satonaka-chan! Do I need to send you to the office?!" the teacher bellowed, interrupting the both of them.

Narukami looked down to his desk and shook his head solemnly. "I guess you can't expect things to change quickly," he muttered.

Having her mouth shut for fear of an unpleasant mark on her record, she turned her head halfway to meet the transfer student's steely eyes and just glared as fiercely as possible. He gave a light chuckle in response, not saying much of anything for the rest of the lecture. Hanamura groaned at the ridiculous situation before returning to his default position, laying on the desk.

* * *

**_4/24/2011_ **

"So why are we at the movie theater again?" she asked as they stood in front of 30 Frames within Okina City, the nearest city from Inaba.

"Part one of owing you back for my dues," he replied, winking at her out of habit.

Chie grumbled incoherently before nodding at him, turning towards the featured movies. "What're we gonna be checking out, anyway?"

Yosuke chuckled lightly. "By some miracle, they're actually showing some kinda kung-fu movie today. It's called Battle Tower, and from what I heard it seems pretty alright."

"Ooh, I think I heard about that one!" the fanatic said, already giddy. "Climbing one hundred floors of baddies, a lone master climbs to the very top to seek vengeance! Hiyah!"

Striking her foot high into the air, he instinctively backed off, not quite wanting to be a victim yet again. "Watch where you're aiming that _weapon,_ Ms. Deadly Legs! Let's just get in already, I think they're starting soon."

"Aw, come on! You really gotta get into the zone, Yosuke," she scolded him. "What if some crook sneak attacks you while you aren't looking?"

He was going to retort how that would _never_ happen before thinking. As they walked inside to grab their tickets, he opened his mouth. "Hm... If that were to happen, I'd just send out my secret weapon, the Satonaka Blade-- OW!"

"Not funny, you jerk!"

* * *

**"How could you still be alive?! I tossed you down a waterfall after I sliced you in half!" The head honcho of the entire tower was appalled, grabbing hold of his table.**

**The challenger gave a laugh, but seemed deprived of actual joy. "It's been five long years, Boss. We've been devastated since the death of my brother... but it will all end here!"**

**"Brother?" the middle-aged man said in confusion before his eyes shot open. "Wait a second. Don't tell me you're!..."**

**Flinging a headband and some pins away revealed some hair, falling down to just beyond the shoulders.**

**_"You grew your hair out?!"_ **

In the theater, it was all too much for Yosuke, dying of laughter. He hunched forward to hold himself together before being hushed by the moviegoer unfortunately sitting next to him.

"Quiet down, dummy!" Chie shushed him. "We're at the climax here!"

Dying down to giggles, he tried to tell her as best he could. "Sorry that this movie's _funny,_ woman."

"What's so funny about the guy..."

Then it clicked.

And she cackled even harder than he did.

As the movie continued towards its end, Hanamura and Satonaka just went on to nitpick the movie until the credits rolled.

* * *

"What the _hell_ did we just watch, oh my god!" They were still recovering from the ridiculously edited mess of a film.

"Thanks for ruining the movie for me, Yosuke!" She had to sling her arm over his shoulder to not collapse on the nice floor.

"I didn't ruin it, I opened your eyes to how weird it was!"

They were trying to keep themselves together as they walked their way out of the theater, but they couldn't help the giggles.

Yosuke could finally _breathe_ again when he commented. "It's a good thing we were practically the only ones there. I don't think I could take the shushes..."

She stopped walking right then. Barely noticing in time that she did, he halted too and looked towards her. In an obviously awkward movement, she let go of his shoulder.

"Uh, Chie?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.

She could already _feel_ the heat rising to her cheeks as she thought longer about the implications of it all. She quickly turned her head away from his peering eyes and stumbled to speak. "J-Jeez, you didn't have to say it like _that!"_

He tilted his head in obvious confusion, wondering what the shift was about. "What, the 'being alone' thing?" he guessed. "What, does that make you _embarrassed?"_ he added in an overly smug tone.

All she had to do was slug his arm to shut him up. Rolling her eyes over the whine of pain the teen left out, she walked a few steps ahead of him. "Well, yeah," she admitted, then gasped. "What if people see us and get the wrong idea?!"

He folded his arms together, looking away in confusion. "Well, uh. Even if they get that idea, it's not like that news'll go anywhere relevant."

A panicked grab from Chie was _not_ what he expected when she spun him to face her. "Do you not know how _many_ Yasogami students come here?! If any one of them spots us, it'll easily trace back to Inaba!"

"Whoa whoa!" Yosuke cried out as he pried her grip off of him. "Why're you so hung up about it, anyway? Is a dumb rumor like that so awful that you have to yell at me about it?"

She tried to open her mouth in retaliation before spotting someone walking across the sidewalk outside. One with very peculiar teeth...

Grabbing his hand, Satonaka dragged him back into the theater, ignoring his yelps as she had her back against the wall. 

He turned his head to face her again, hands in his pockets. "Oh, what _now,_ Chie?!"

"Quiet!" she whispered harshly at him. "I saw King Moron passing by."

He blinked. "Oh. That _is_ pretty bad." While she was looking around hoping Morooka was gone, Hanamura got a perfect look at their still conjoined hands. _Guess she forgot to let go,_ he thought. _This'll make perfect ammo._

"Looks like the coast is clear, Yosuke," she declared at last.

He had a rather goofy smirk on himself as he raised up their connected hands. "Great, now will you let go of my hand? You're kinda crushing it here."

Her head might as well have flipped back to Yosuke at the speed of _light._ "W-wha?!..." She stared at the scandalous hands for a few seconds, an obvious bright red on her cheeks. Now that he had a clear sight... It was pretty adorable to see her so flustered.

He ended up having to release the grip himself, as she _did_ have a ridiculously strong hold on him. "Chie, stuff like that is how you _actually_ start rumors," he teased. "Let's get out of here already."

As he headed back on the main road and towards the train station, he could hear the yell of his carnivorous companion to--

"W-wait up, damn it!"

As he got his ticket back to Inaba, he raised his voice. "Sorry Chie, but hurry up! We have a train to catch!"

* * *

Within the seas of her soul, Tomoe muttered to herself:

_That hand... Warm..._

She thought about mentioning this to her other self, but decided otherwise. 

* * *

**_4/26/2011_ **

"I've heard there's a mysterious animal dwelling in the shopping district area," Ms. Nakayama said. "Supposedly, it knows how to search the charge dispenser of vending machines. How amazing is that?"

Narukami made a mental note about this animal. A creature that clever... _could_ be useful somehow. Chie just groaned inwardly as she thought about asking the steel-haired student to join her in training. _Maybe when I know for sure Yukiko's coming back..._

"Oh, here's an interesting one," the teacher said, breaking their thoughts. "A natural number that's half the sum of its positive divisors is called?..."

Deciding she'd rather score some brownie points, Chie flipped her handout to the third page...

...If she had one.

"What the?..." she uttered. "I can't find my handout..."

That's strange, it was _just_ front and center on her desk. Satonaka checked all around the desk, including under the chair, but couldn't find that damned handout.

Choosing to admit defeat, she faced Yu. "Half a sum of its divisors? I'm... totally lost. You know the answer, Narukami-kun?"

He simply smirked before flipping to the third page, giving a quick analysis, and raised his hand. "It would be a perfect number, no?"

“Right, a perfect number,” Ms. Nakayama said, giving an almost haphazard nod as she turned to the struggling student. “Satonaka-san, please come pick up an extra handout if you don’t have one. Now, about these perfect numbers...”

She winced at the callout, but soon obliged. When she got back to her desk, she saw something _really_ strange.

Another handout was lying front and center on her desk, just like before.

“Are you kidding me?” she muttered. “Now I know someone’s trying to pull something on me.”

Satonaka slowed her pace then, darting her eyes across the room for the culprit of this prank. Yu _did_ have the easiest shot of doing this, but she immediately crossed him out. Just didn’t seem like the type to pull that, especially when he’d been made delicately aware of their academic struggles. Yosuke had his hand supporting his head, clearly looking bored. Everyone else just looked unassuming, so she bit the bullet and sat down.

Which was when she heard a strange snicker behind her. It only lasted for a beat, but it was definitely behind her... and to the left of her.

When she knew the teacher wasn’t paying attention to her, Chie whipped her head to see none other than Hanamura, barely keeping himself composed. _Of course it would be him, that jerk!..._ _  
_

She would have to get payback after classes. Growling at the sniggering kid, she heard Narukami give his sympathies. “I am so sorry you had to live with his shit for six months.”

Leaning in, she whispered back, “You learn to deal with him after the first month, it’s fine.”

What she thought was a lighthearted reply actually earned a wince from him. It had only flashed for a moment, but he quickly tried to place a smirk. Odd, but she chose not to think too much of it. She had a Junes boy to punish, after all.

* * *

In the usually quaint shopping district was Tatsumi Textiles. An elder woman was cleaning out the reception, which was not too much more than the tables and shelves holding their proud creations. Business was running along nicely still, even with the inclusion of Junes several months back. She heard the footsteps of someone descending the stairs.

"Yo, old bat. I, er, made some more designs for stuffed animals," he said.

She gave a soft chuckle at the name her son had decided to call her recently. It peeved Ms. Tatsumi, but she simply figured it would be one of those phases of life. Grasping the thing of paper, she nodded in approval of the delicate designs. "These look lovely, dearie. That little snowman in particular looks adorable!"

He turned his head away, awkward at the praise. "Uh, I made it based off this lil' mascot character I kept seeing around arcades and shit."

She raised a brow at the language. Things of that assortment was how he began expressing himself, earning him an unpleasant reputation. She knew he was firmly misunderstood, but his son rolled with it, bleaching his hair out into a light blonde. A distinct jingle rang through the shop before she could respond, however.

"Hello, Tatsumi-san," the daughter of the Amagi Inn started as she walked inside. "Oh, and hello too, Kanji-kun. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

He nearly panicked that another had just found a man like him in this little textile shop before realizing it was just Yukiko. She was still one of the few to know of his hobbies as a professional 'maker of cute shit'. "Oh, sup, Yukiko-senpai," he introduced. It _had_ been a while since they last talked. "Ya here to check up on the Amagi Inn's orders?"

She nodded, prompting the mother to go upstairs to show how progress was coming along. While the two stood in an almost awkward silence, she figured she'd begin. "...How come I haven't seen you--"

_"Get back here, Yosuke!"_

Even coming from the outside, they could still hear the echo stretch across the district. Amagi flipped her head towards the front door and slid it open, watching out for her best friend. "Chie?..."

Yukiko could hear the confusion of her old friend behind her, before he just shrugged and joined in watching. Not long after came the two of them.

* * *

_How many times have we gone through this song and dance?!_ He tried to keep up the desperate pace for as long as he could, trying to avoid the wrath of the dragon behind him.

It's simply unfortunate she's far more physically active than he is, eventually starting to close the gap between the two. "I thought we were on good terms, Yosuke!"

"We are!" He yelled back. "Not now, probably, but it was just an innocent prank!" As they made their way up the remainder of the shopping district, he spotted his potential savior.

Aiya.

"Hey, Chie!" he called. "Wanna grab a beef bowl for my second of ten weeks of debt?"

Yosuke didn't bother waiting for her answer as he slowed his pace (but not his heart rate) and entered the establishment, Chie likely on his trail. It seemed to be one of it's less busier days, thankfully, as he strolled along and propped himself on a stool. He heard the door ring up a second time as he leaned forward. "Hey, can I get two beef bowls?" he asked the owner, his nerves still trying to calm down. The owner nodded as they got to work, and Hanamura heard her sit down next to him.

"Uh?..." she only muttered out. He turned towards her and gave a confident smirk, their previous scuffle seemingly all but forgotten. _Seriously?... Well, let bygones be bygones,_ she finally conceded as she asked what he ordered for her.

"A regular beef bowl, duh. Fortunately for me, they aren't passing out the Mega Beef Bowl right now, so make yourself comfy," he winked.

She groaned, but not without a subtle dusting of pink joining her cheeks, _surely_ out of being embarrassed. "W-whatever. Um, do you think Yukiko will be alright?"

He hummed, thinking about their mutual friend. "I'd... think she'll be alright," he answered. "Though have you asked when they think Yukiko-san can return to school?"

Their platters had been given to them at this point, ready to be consumed. "Oh, shoot! I should totally text her about it, you're right!" Whipping out her cellphone, she typed out her message to their red-clad friend.

**[hey d0 u kno when u're comin bac?]**

Leaving her cell on the table, she was content to break her chopsticks apart and start chomping down on the delectable meal. He watched her for a few moments longer as her hair kept flowing aggressively, as a small thing of black hair escaped her bowl cut. He reached out and swiped it, catching her attention.

"Hey, I think your roots are growing back their color."

"Huh?... A-already?!" she blurted out loud before covering her face, fuming red.

"What's wrong with that, exactly? I have to deal with it too, you know," he asked, very confused on this apparent big deal.

She slowly lowered her hands back down. "S-sorry, this color of hair is just too important to me," she admitted. "I started dyeing it like this a few months into my first year in high school. I was getting sick of everyone, um, ignoring me since I looked like everyone else."

His eyes were left open, gaping at her. That was an _extremely_ familiar situation.

* * *

**_10/9/2010_ **

_Well, it's now or never with this._

_Grabbing the peroxide can of hair dye, he gave one last check to the color of choice._

_Monarch orange._

_He had never even considered specific shades of color until he had to pick from several variations of orange. He had considered going with a paler shade before, but this one was simply perfect._

_Tomorrow, he would be over to a whole new town with new people, and that frightened him more than anything. He ultimately figured he just needed to distinguish himself. Black hair wouldn't do for him anymore._

_Preparing his roots for the dyed assault, he briefly thought about how his mom would respond to this change. Some time passed as he eventually pinned her as the type to support the decision._

* * *

"Yosuke? What're you staring at me for?..."

Snapped out of his reverie, he broke apart his chopsticks, hoping his meal wasn't already cold. "Sorry," he muttered, "that just sounded a hell of a lot like I was."

As he started slurping up the now lukewarm bowl, she just leered at him with a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

"I... dyed my hair the day before I moved here," he admitted. "To be honest, I was terrified of the idea of being alone... and to a degree, I um, still am. Hadn't even known how bad this was all going to be until I stepped into the town for the first time and realized how far into the boonies it is. No offense."

"Eh, I totally get it," Chie replied. "I'll probably think about moving out when I'm done with high school, anyway. What about you?"

"Right now? I still think about going back to the city as fast as possible. There was just so much more to do back in Tokyo, even if my school was on the strange side."

"Strange?..." she repeated to herself, though phrased like a question.

"Yeah, Shujin Academy I think it was called," Yosuke recalled. "It's supposed to be some prestigious place, but the teachers I had were nearly as insane as they are here, which is probably why I got used to the ones here much more quickly."

"I see," she simply nodded, content with the bit of backstory. They resumed eating their bowls in mutual silence, the two feeling a new sense of respect for one another.

* * *

**_4/28/2011_ **

During the raining Samegawa road to the school, Chie spotted Narukami walking absentmindedly, and quickly caught up to him, giddy.

"Morning!" she belted.

"Oh, hello, Satonaka," he quietly replied. "Any reason for the excitement?"

"You bet there is! Yukiko told me she'll be able to come back to school again in two days! Oh man, I'm so happy about that!"

"It's all thanks to you, Chie," Yu earnestly commented.

She flushed over the praise from the kind transfer, but still thought to deflect it. "Oh c'mon, you _know_ all three of us did our best to save her!"

A couple beats passed before he remarked, "Never thought I'd hear you give Yosuke any sort of praise, especially after Tuesday."

She just raised an eyebrow at him in annoyance. _"That's_ the thing you pulled from it?"

A haphazard shrug from their leader. "You two always squabble over the smallest things, so it was just surprising."

Chie gave a heavy sigh in response. _You don't know the half of it, Narukami._ "Anyway, um, we should meet up together! I have this spot we can use for training."

"Training?"

"I'll let you know later." Satonaka started hopping, ready to bolt to school, even through the rain. "See you at the roof after school!"

"Goodbye," he casually waved. _Maybe I could use this as an opportunity to..._

* * *

Sat down under the shade of the tree, she absentmindedly thought about some of the bigger memories that's taken place in the Samegawa Floodplain.

It was where she first met Yukiko, she would never forget that. Poor girl couldn't keep the dog, so she ran away. Chie ultimately agreed to keep the dog, making sure she knew they both owned it together. Muku turned into a chubby one, but he's still a lovely pup.

It was where she'd spent her birthdays at more than once, celebrating with her best friend by sparring using toy weaponry. It was very odd, looking back, but they made the most of it, nonetheless.

It was where--

Her throat began to feel clogged, heavy with dread.

Where she and Yosuke began their rapid descent to being enemies.

"Damn it, why do I still feel awful whenever I think about it?..." she thought out loud. "It's already been over and done with, we made up."

Right, it was also where they began to start over a few months later. The conversation had been a bit awkward, but not exactly unpleasant. The places they've hung out to since had even been nice times, aside from his jerkish moments.

_And his hand felt warm..._

...Wait, where did _that_ come from?

 _Have you forgotten about me already?_ Tomoe spoke to her. _Silly woman, I am you, too._

Before she could even fathom what was going on, Narukami made his presence known. "Hey there."

She made sure to send the best silencing message she could to her Persona before standing up. "Yo, is this a good training spot?"

"Seems so, yeah. Big, open outdoors are usually good for letting your legs go flying, I'd imagine."

She chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Definitely, heh. I need to hone my kicking skill, or I won't be any help in the battle."

"And you want a training partner, I assume?"

"I've thought about inviting Yosuke, but I just don't think he'll last nearly as long." She's thought more than once of dishing out the most physical training on him, just as a potential punishment.

"Maybe not straining his whole body out, but he's been getting particularly good with running. Need I remind you of the castle?" he teased in return.

She only huffed, her mind replaying the incident in her mind. None of them are going to let go of it, it seems. "Yeah, yeah, I've already given more than enough thanks to Yosuke than he deserved, but let's get to training... if that's fine with you?"

"Of course," he flashed his thumbs up. "We need to be at the top of our game for whatever the TV World will throw at us."

"Right! I'm not gonna stand for the Shadow being a part of me anymore. I'm gonna rise above the selfish part of me, once and for all!"

Yu beamed, glad to hear of the girl's fierce resolve. He still had just one more question before they began, though. "Hey, Satonaka?"

"What's up?"

He drew out the mystical power of the mysterious smile once again. "Whatever happened between you two to drop the honorifics?"

Not for the first time that week, her mind ran blank as her friend let out a hearty chuckle at her expense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the anime says Chie has her dyed hair even when she first met Yukiko, but I call bull on that. The scene with our good tailor friend was the main thing to really push me back into finishing this, it was too good of an opportunity. Finally, we don't know anything about Yosuke's previous place that I can get away with the reference. This will more than likely not be the last one.
> 
> Comments are my fuel, making me a very eco-friendly vehicle.


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